Economic Community of West African States#West African Economic and Monetary Union

The West African Economic and Monetary Union ( Union économique et French Monétaire Ouest Africaine, UEMOA abbreviated ) is a consortium of eight mainly francophone (only in Guinea- Bissau Portuguese) West African States. It was founded on January 10, 1994 in Dakar and has its headquarters in Ouagadougou. Common currency of UEMOA is the West African CFA franc.

Members

Organization

The Central Bank of the UEMOA, the Banque Centrale des États de l' Afrique de l' Ouest ( BCEAO ), based in Dakar ( Senegal). Other institutions are employed in 1998 Inter-Parliamentary Committee, a court and a common stock exchange in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). Since 2000, also created an integrated regional market, which provides, however, different degrees of benefit to the Member States.

Economic integration is still quite weak, the internal market has a share of only about eleven percent of the total foreign trade. About 60 percent of the imports and exports of UEMOA are handled with Europe, which is why the dependence is correspondingly large. According sensitive the economy reacts to external shocks, especially in the commodity markets. There are also large differences within the Union in the economic structures and income levels, particularly between affluent countries on the coast and those in the Sahel.

The countries of the UEMOA are also part of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS ). Another monetary union is the Central African Economic and Monetary Community.