The benefits expected from the common Central Bank and Currency as envisaged in the year 2004 in the West African Sub-region will yield a substantial micro-economic and macro-economic stability for the ECOWAS countries, reports the Ghanaian Democrat.

The NDC mouth piece says, apart from handling only one single currency instead of eight in the sub-region, the micro-economic benefits will include lower transaction costs and elimination of currency speculation as well as a larger market.

This will lead to greater efficiency resulting from a more competitive process of cross-border transactions.

Mr S.K. Apea, Senior Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) made this observation at a round-table discussion on the topic: "A Second Monetary Zone as a critical Factor in the Fast Track Approach to West African Economic Integration" in Accra recently.

According to Mr Apea, the Heads of State and Government, realising that ECOWAS had not achieved its core objectives after two decades decided to review the treaty towards an Economic Union at which there would be a single currency by 2004.