Browsing: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

• According to the African Development Bank’s Macroeconomic report, Africa will dominate the world’s 20 fastest growing economies 2024.
• According to the report, the medium-term growth outlook for the continent’s five regions is slowly improving.
• The report forecasts more substantial growth for Africa in 2024, outpacing the projected global average; the continent is the second-fastest-growing region after Asia.

Fastest Growing Economies 2024

The African Development Bank Group’s latest Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook (MEO) indicates real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the continecustom nfl football jerseys decathlon bmx luvme human hair wigs bouncing putty egg custom kings jersey dallas cowboys slippers mens johnny manziel jersey custom kings jersey custom youth hockey jerseys brock bowers jersey luvme human hair wigs black friday wig sale college football jerseys decathlon bmx uberlube luxury lubricant nt is expected to average 3.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The report …

• Landlocked Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso lack direct access to the sea, presenting unique challenges in their future economic relationships.
• Nigeria’s imports from Niger have been on the rise, reaching $33.4 million in 2022 from $25.7 million in 2021.
• Mali witnessed a substantial surge in exports to Nigeria, posting 246% increase to $17.4 million in 2022.

In a seemingly synchronized turn of events, the West African nations of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have declared their exit from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

This move announced in a joint statement on Sunday by the junta leaders of the three landlocked Sahel nations, cited their “sovereign decision” to sever ties with Ecowas without delay.

The decision by Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso to withdraw from the Ecowas raises concerns about potential lost opportunities in trade with Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, as well as with other countries …

Over the past decade Africa has been rife with infrastructure developments that hitherto continue to steadily transform the continent, spurring the much-needed economic development. This is well aligned to aspiration 2 of Africa’s Agenda 2063, which advocates for ‘an integrated continent politically united based on the ideas of Pan Africanism and the vision of African Renaissance’ with the key priority area of developing world class infrastructure that crisscrosses Africa.

Inadequate infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa has remained an existential hurdle to the continent’s achievement of robust economic growth. According to a report by Deloitte, this status quo has reduced national economic growth by two percentage points every year, and cut business productivity by as much as 40 per cent. In reiteration, another report by McKinsey and Company highlights that Africa faces an infrastructure paradox, in that there is need and availability of funding together with a large pipeline of potential projects …

West Africa will fully adopt cleaner fuels and vehicles by January 1, 2025 in an effort to reduce air pollution across the region’s cities.

The deadline was set by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during the African Refiners & Distributors Association (ARDA) 2021 Virtual Workshop Series.

According to ECOWAS Director of Energy Bayaornibe Dabire, the range of fuel specifications in the sub-region currently spans 50 Parts Per Million (PPM) sulphur in some countries to 10, 000 ppm in others.

ECOWAS directive

Speaking at the ARDA workshop series, Bayaornibe Dabire said the need for harmonisation led to the issuance of ECOWAS directive C/DIR.2/09/20 last year.

The directive covers exhaust gas and particulate emission limits for two-wheeled, light and heavy vehicles.

Any improvement in fuel specifications without alignment with vehicle emission limits, Dabire said, would not have the desired effect.

He emphasized that member states should prohibit the import …

The main goal of ECOWAS is to promote economic cooperation among member states in order to raise living standards and promote economic development. ECOWAS has also worked to address some security issues by developing a peacekeeping force for conflicts in the region.

Thus Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Joint Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Telecommunications and Information Technology are meeting in Ghana to brainstorm the role of telecommunication in achieving regional development.

The meeting which is underway in Winneba Ghana kicked off on 27^th this month and will climax on the 31^st of July under the theme “The role of telecommunications and information technology (TIT) in achieving regional development.”

Delegates at the Meeting are discussing several issues ranging from the influence of TIT on elections in member states, regional roaming issues:…

The 1.5km Nigerian-Cameroon double lane bridge linking the two countries from Ekot-Mfum, Etung Local Government Area of Cross River state is set to boost trade, the Federal Government of Nigeria has disclosed.

According to the Minister of Works and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola the bridge, which is being funded by both countries will also strengthen ties and improve security.

Memorandum of understanding

The two countries had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) seeking funds from the bank and other development partners to execute the road transport corridor.

The minister who spoke on Monday said the bridge is the first shoot of the harvest of completed projects proposed as the President Muhammadu Buhari administration enters the second phase of the second term on its way out.

Fashola also shared some pictures of the completed bridge.

Trade and business

He further pointed out that Nigeria has had a strong relationship with the …

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to launch a single currency for its member states.

While making the announcement on Saturday June 19,  the union revealed the plans to launch the currency by 2027.

According to the president of the ECOWAS Commission Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, the new road map and a new convergence pact would cover the period between 2022-2026, and 2027 being the launch of the ECO.

Jean-Claude spoke to the media on Saturday in Accra at the end of a summit of the union’s leaders. He noted that the member countries are banking on the single currency to go a long way in boosting  trade and economic growth.

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Initially, Anglophone countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya had pulled out on the ground that the Francophone countries have breached the Economic Community’s Currency …

The government of Benin’s imposition of a duty regime targeted at goods from Anglophone West Africa has forced Ghana to petition the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Ghana in its petition argues that the duty regime has presented an unfair advantage to companies operating from Francophone West Africa that still benefited from duty and quota-free on exports in Benin.

The duty regime took effect seven months ago. The move has also forced Ghanaian manufacturers dealing with plastic pipes, paints, aluminium products, cooking oil, among other products to halt exports to the Benin market until further notice.

According to reports by a local daily, the affected manufacturers, led by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) reported the situation to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MoFARI).

Reports further indicate that Ghana petitioned the ECOWAS Commission for …

The World Bank gave $379 million to help balance and strengthen statistical systems in seven West African countries.

The seven countries include Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Togo and Liberia.

The project “Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (HISWA)’ is funded by the International Development Association (IDA) credits and grants.

The project key objective is to strengthen the statistical systems of the participating countries, regional and sub-regional bodies, in order to help them balance, produce, distribute and enhance the use of core social and economic statistics.

With World Bank’s efforts to deepen regional integration in Africa, the funding will also support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).

Also Read: Africa asks World Bank, EU and IMF for debt relief support

“High-quality and harmonised statistics are essential to support economic activity and regional integration as a way to address …

African competition law on the continent is the subject of notable growth. An increasing number of jurisdictions have adopted laws and regulations, established authorities, secured membership to regional antitrust regimes and ramped-up enforcement of suspected violations of prevailing competition laws at both domestic and regional levels.

Since 2018, domestic competition legislation has been enacted in Angola and Nigeria.  In Angola, these legislative developments have been bolstered by the establishment of the Angolan Competition Regulatory Authority, which recently became operational.  In Nigeria, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law in 2019, establishing the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal to enforce the legislation.  Madagascar adopted a new law, which modifies certain aspects of its competition laws.  This is yet to be published in the official gazette, but also demonstrates an impending change (which is consistent with the general wave of development in relation to competition regimes on the …