Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone met Guinea's central bank governor Ibrahim Bah, Ghana's regional cooperation minster Kofi Apraku and Gambian finance minister Famara Jatta.
Officials of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said the leaders would look at how to accelerate plans to merge their economies and set up a joint central bank.
On the agenda is a proposed $100-million stabilisation and cooperation fund and a $100-million grant towards setting up the bank, the official said Wednesday.
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone met in Accra in April 2000 to agree to set up a second west African currency zone, alongside that of the CFA franc, used by the rest of the Ecowas members.
Initially the plan was for the Accra countries to unite their currencies earlier this year before going on to work towards merging with the CFA zone and forming a single currency bloc.
But the plan is behind schedule and the countries are struggling to meet strict economic performance criteria, including dramatic cuts in annual inflation, before going ahead. – Sapa-AFP.
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