{"id":41618,"date":"2026-08-05T13:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=41618"},"modified":"2026-08-05T13:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:15:00","slug":"external-financial-ties-threaten-ecowas-currency-union","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/external-financial-ties-threaten-ecowas-currency-union\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;External financial ties threaten ECOWAS currency union&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Political scientist and conflict resolution expert Dr David Matsanga has raised serious doubts over the Economic Community of West African States&#8217; (ECOWAS) ambitious plan to launch a single regional currency by next year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the feasibility of the long-delayed monetary union, Matsanga warned that deep-seated economic dependency and lingering structural ties to external financial systems, particularly foreign-backed currencies, continue to block genuine monetary integration across West Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While Matsanga commended the regional bloc for its notable achievements in facilitating the seamless movement of citizens through its unified regional passport system, he stressed that currency integration presents a far more complex hurdle. He argued that until member states break free from external economic control and address domestic financial instability, forcing a single currency risks triggering further economic disruption and political friction across the region.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The commentary comes as ECOWAS faces mounting scrutiny over its regional authority, leadership direction, and economic strategies amidst widespread geopolitical shifts in West Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15873,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-41618","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Political scientist and conflict resolution expert casts doubt on ECOWAS single currency plans","published_date":"2026-08-05 13:14:37","news_description":"Political scientist and conflict resolution expert casts doubt on ECOWAS single currency plans","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41619,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41618\/revisions\/41619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}