West African Monetary Agency - WAMA

The West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) is an autonomous and specialised agency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It was established in 1996 as a result of the transformation of the West African Clearing House (WACH). In retrospect, WACH was established in 1975 to serve as a multilateral payment facility to promote trade within the West African sub-region. In addition to its functions of routing and clearing trade transactions and services, the Agency has been charged with the responsibility of monitoring, coordinating and implementing the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Programme (EMCP), geared towards the creation of the ECOWAS single currency.