单项选择题
| on April 20,2000, in Accra, Ghana, the leaders of
six West African countries declared their intention to proceed to monetary union
among the non CFA franc countries of the region by January 2003, as first step
toward a wider monetary union including all the ECOWAS countries in 2004. The
six countries 56 themselves to reducing central bank
financing of budget deficits 57 10 percent of the previous
years government 58 ;reducing budget deficits to 4 percent
of the second phase by 2003 ;creating a Convergence Council to help 59
macroeconomic policies; and 60 up a common
central bank. Their declaration 61 that, "Member States
62 the need 63 strong political
commitment and 64 to 65 all such national policies 66 would facilitate the regional monetary integration process. " The goal of a monetary union in ECOWAS has long been an objective of the organization, going back to its formation in 1975, and is intended to 67 broader integration process that would include enhanced regional trade and 68 institutions. In the colonial period, currency boards linked sets of countries in the region. 69 independence, 70 ,these currency boards were 71 ,with the 72 of the CFA franc zone, which included the Francophone countries of the region. Although there have been attempts to advance the agenda of ECOWAS monetary cooperation, political problems and other economic priorities in several of the region’s countries have to 73 inhibited progress. Although some problems remain, the recent initiative has been bolstered by the election in 1999 of a democratic government and a leader who is committed to regional 74 in Nigeria, the largest economy of the region, raising hopes that the long delayed project can be 75 . |