By: Haddy Touray
The Naira, Cedi, and Leone have depreciated against the Dalasi, making the Gambian currency more resilient than many others in the sub-region.
This disclosure was made at the opening ceremony of the ongoing West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) meeting in Dakar.
As part of the associated events of the WAMA meeting, the 45th joint Ordinary Meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Operations and Administration Committee of WAMA also got underway and The Gambia is being represented in this forum by the Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia Mr. Buah Saidy.
The meetings provide the platform for discussing the Ecowasmacroeconomic convergence report for the year 2023, the monetary policy framework of the central banks of West African states, the strengthening of cross-border banking supervision, exchange rate developments, and financial sector developments amongst others.
During the discussions on the general macroeconomic performance in Ecowas, it was observed that the policy focused on strengthening economic resilience and restoring fiscal and debt sustainability as well as price and exchange rate stability.
It has also been highlighted that GDP growth slowed to 3.7% in 2023 from 3.9% in 2022 but that The Gambia recorded a growth of 4.8% in 2023, above the regional average.
It was revealed during the meeting that in the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ), inflation rose to 27.1% in December 2023 compared to 17.3% for The Gambia, which eventually dropped to 10.4% as of June 2024.
In respect of the exchange rate stability in WAMZ, the Dalasi is reported to have depreciated against the dollar just like other ECOWAS currencies. The Naira, for example, depreciated against the dollar by 50.0%, while the Ghanaian Cedi depreciated by 24.5%, the Leone of Sierra Leone depreciated by 15.8% while the Gambian Dalasi depreciated by a relatively low percentage point of 12.
