Drop in WACH business worries ECOWAS panel

The Committee of Governors of Central Bank of ECOWAS Countries has expressed concern over the declining level of transactions through the West Africa Clearing House.
This was disclosed to the News Agency of Nigeria by banking sources in Lagos on Friday. According to the source, the intractable problem of accumulated payments of arrears is equally disturbing.
To revitalise the operation of the clearing house, the governors recommended urgent measures and have stressed the need for debtors banks to meet creditor banks in order to find workable solution to the problems.
The meeting which the 12 ordinary meeting of the West African Clearing House, Exchange and Clearing Committee, was held in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The meeting focused its attention on the perenial economic problem of internal and external disequilibria of its members and the worsening external debt situation as well as the erosion of the prices of raw materials.
Mr. Mohammed Salem Guld Lekhal, the Mauritanian minster of finance and economic planning called on the countries of the sub-region to reinforce their cooperation.
Participants in the deliberations were drawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Mauritania, The Republic of Guinea and the French speaking West African States.
In attendance on observer status were representatives of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Economic Commission of Africa, ECA. Africa Centre for Monetary Studies and the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, disclosed that the meeting further deliberated on the problem of The International Monetary Scheme and its effect on the African Economy. The meeting considered and approved the budget of the Clearing House for the 1987/88 financial year. NAN further disclosed that a plot of land has been allocated in Sierra-Leone for the construction of the West Africa Clearing House