Sierra Leone Ministry of Finance hands over chairmanship of the West African Monetary Zone Technical Committee

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance reported that its Financial Secretary, Matthew Dingie, has handed over the chairmanship of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) Technical Committee following the committee’s 58th meeting in Monrovia, Liberia. Deliberations focused on the roadmap toward the Eco single currency and on macroeconomic convergence performance across WAMZ members. The February 4-8 meeting brought together central bank and finance ministry officials from The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, alongside regional institutions including the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI). Dingie highlighted WAMZ real GDP growth estimated at 5.0% in the first half of 2025, up from 3.7% in the first half of 2024, and noted improved convergence performance. For Sierra Leone, he reported compliance with two of the four primary convergence criteria in the first half of 2025, with central bank financing of the fiscal deficit at 8.1% of the previous year’s tax revenue, below the 10% ceiling, and the fiscal deficit at 1.8% of GDP, below the 3.0% threshold; secondary criteria compliance was also reported as maintained. WAMI Director General Abdulsalam Sikiru Abidemi reported that, as of end-June 2025, no WAMZ member met all four primary criteria, with inflation the main shortfall for The Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria. Following the close of the Technical Committee meeting, Sierra Leone’s Chief Economist, Alimamy Bangura, is scheduled to chair a joint technical committee meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the West African Monetary Agency and the ECOWAS Commission’s Macroeconomic Policy Technical Committee from February 9-11, 2026.