VOA常速英语2007-Proposed Single West African Currency Could Boos

By Naomi Schwarz
Dakar
12 October 2007

Experts say a single currency across West Africa could boost regional and international trade and increase stability across the region. West Africa's regional economic body, ECOWAS, has said it aims to create a currency union for the region by the end of the decade. Naomi Schwarz has more from Dakar.

Economic analysts² say a single currency in West Africa could increase economic cooperation within the region.

"The region has been encouraged by the success of the European integration³, that has resulted in the single currency called the Euro, and I think it is something good for the region," said Godfrey Obioma, a financial journalist with a Nigerian daily business newspaper.

Eight French-speaking West African countries already use a single currency, the CFA. Four former-British colonies - Ghana, Nigeria, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone - along with former French colony, Guinea, have been developing a second regional currency, the ECO. Under a possible two-track approach to a single currency, the CFA, ECO, and other local currencies would later merge⁴.

But at a recent ECOWAS summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, West African heads of state said they want a strategy that will integrate the entire region faster.

A study commissioned by ECOWAS this week in Burkina Faso aims to present the most feasible approach and timetable to heads of state by December.

Obioma says currency unification is the last major step towards regional integration. Already citizens within ECOWAS countries can move across borders without visas or passports, he says, which facilitates regional trade.

Alex Vines, Africa analyst¹ for British-based Chatham House, says a single currency could boost international trade. "Companies that are in Dakar would, for example, be able to deal in the same currency with Nigeria rather than having to change their West African francs into Naira," he notes.

He says it would also make local trade more efficient, and could improve regional stability.

"The reality is informal trade crosses over anyway all these borders, anyhow, but it just makes trade more efficient, and that has got to be a good thing for West Africa," says Vines.

Trade in West Africa has tended to be oriented toward former colonizers in Europe, rather than developing countries next door. Vines says it remains⁵ a question whether some of the larger countries in the region, with larger economies, will adopt the single currency when the moment actually arrives.

In a region that includes some of the world's poorest countries, Vines says West African countries will have to look closely at how or if they might intervene in the case of an economic crisis within the region.

1 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

4 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。