ABSTRACT
The signing of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in Africa makes for good politics, but in order to become reality, they must extend beyond unfufilled good intentions and have sufficiently sound institutional bases, and this is the focus of this chapter. In the case of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the reluctance of political leaders in the region to encourage the seeming erosion of national sovereignty and the emergence of a supranational authority which would be necessary to co-ordinate and manage the affairs of economic integration constitute the greatest impediment to the goals of a common market and currency. Operationally defined, this means the adoption of a single currency to facilitate proper integration. While not conclusive, a single currency in this regard could help to address the challenges facing West Africa, such as the lack of independence of central banks and the nonconvertibility of some currencies. Eventually, a common currency and other regional institutions associated with it could boost investor confidence in the region and promote trade that is currently at a very low level for a supposedly free trade zone. Put differently, West African leaders must move from making bold pronouncements to taking a cue from the one relatively successful integration efforts they have been trying to replicate, the European Union (EU) by creating a supranational institution as its primary decision-making body.
