Officials of West African apex banks have expressed optimism of introducing a single currency in the region by January 1, 2015 if issues of macro-economic stability and inflation are addressed by member countries.

The banks’ officials gave the expression at a a meeting organised by the West African Monetary Zones committee in Abuja on Monday.

The Supervising Minister of National Planning, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, said achieving a single currency within the ECOWAS sub region was significant to the growth of the region’s economy.

Ambassador Yuguda therefore called on leaders in the sub region to fastrack policies and programmes that would help in achieving the set target at the right time.

He maintained that one key decision that would be taken at the meeting was how to attain a single currency within the region.

Although previous dates for the commencement of the policy was not achieved, government officials at the meeting believe the implementation of key policies by member countries is key to the attainment of the objective by 2015.

Yuguda stressed that, achieving the ‎aspiration of a single currency might not be without some challenges, explaining that officials of international bodies have promised to give a hand of support.

They also advised that the non-tariff barriers in the sub region should be removed.

Several dates for the implementation of the single currency policy in the West African region had been fixed before but was not actualised, but Ambassador Yuguda, however, said that the experts’ hopes are high that it would be actualised within less than six months left.

The meeting, which had experts in attendance and representatives from member countries, was the 37th meeting of the West African Monetary Zone.