Post a comment
On Friday, 14th February 2025, the Minister of Finance, Sheku Fantamadi Bangura, was elected Chairman of the Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of Central Banks for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
During his speech, he thanked the outgoing Chairman of the Convergence Councils of Ministers and Governors of the Central Bank, the Minister in charge of Finance in Guinea, for his dedication during his tenure as Chairman of WAMZ.
He noted that the global economic landscape has affected the economies of the sub-region, which has affected the weak growth, higher inflation; shocks from pandemics like COVID-19, the ongoing crises in Europe, geo-political tensions and fragmentation affecting the sub-region.
Minister Bangura further stated that despite these shocks and distractions, the Ministry of Finance in Sierra Leone worked very hard to restore macroeconomic stability, with inflation declining to about 13.6
‘’In 2024, the situation turned around positively, and according to World Economic Outlook, global growth has remained relatively stable at around 3.2% in the 2024-2025 growth projection, and Sierra Leone is following the trend of 3% and 3.3%’’
The Minister further stated that despite the enormous efforts and the resources that have been invested in the Single Currency Programme in the sub-region, the abilities of member countries to meet all the targets in the Convergence are tasks for all of the member countries and the road to the union has a timeline of 2027.
He commended members for putting in place blocks around the payment systems in the sub-region across borders; bank supervision efforts and also putting efforts in building the capital market within the sub-region and macroeconomic management through fiscal harmonization and the implementing of other protocols to foster trade and broad economic integration of ECOWAS protocol and movement of people
Ministers of Finance and Governors of the Central Bank of Liberia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh were all Present at the Gambia to the 53rd Meeting of the Convergence Council of WAMZ in Freetown.
