EBID celebrates ECOWAS at 45
Speech by the President of EBID, Dr George Donkor on ECOWAS Day
On 28th May 2020, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its financial arm, EBID, will be forty-five (45) years old. The last four decades have witnessed the Community and its Bank develop resolutely from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of People with the 2016 vision of one people one destiny. The emergence of ECOWAS has since engendered social, economic, and political cooperation amongst the fifteen member states, with a combined population of over 300 million.
As the financial arm of ECOWAS, the Bank has undergone transformation and positioned itself to ensure the inclusion of West Africa’s private sector among beneficiaries of the Bank’s strategic services across a wide range of key sectors. According to the 2019 West Africa Economic Outlook report, ECOWAS has an estimated GDP of USD 613 billion with an average GDP growth rate of 3.3%. The sub-region has also made giant strides in regional integration as according to the 2016 Africa Regional Integration Index, ECOWAS is the second-highest performer on regional integration in the continent.
To date, EBID has financed over 280 projects and programmes from diverse sectors in the amount of USD 2.6 billion with the sole aim of building a strong, resilient, and sustainable ECOWAS. Our operational activities have been targeting structural, social, and institutional weaknesses that impede intra and inter-state development and integration. The Bank’s numerous investments and financing schemes have contributed to strengthening economic resilience and expanding opportunities for millions of people within the sub-region.
However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind us that there is still a lot of grounds to cover to consolidate ECOWAS as a strong regional bloc with a fully integrated economic system at both the regional and global levels. As much as the region’s diverse cultures, languages, ecology and political alliances present countless opportunities for member states, there are also some major challenges that have been slowing down the integration process. For instance, in 2018, according to UNCTAD, structural and institutional challenges such as infrastructure deficits and non-tariff barriers caused the very low level 8.2% of intra-regional trade among ECOWAS member states compared to other African regional blocs. High unemployment rates also present serious socioeconomic challenges in the region.
Addressing these deficiencies requires a holistic regional approach. As such, during my mandate, I vow to continue strengthening EBID’s collaboration with other ECOWAS institutions because together we have all the tools to develop and implement effective policies and programmes to transform ECOWAS into a competitive economic regional bloc in Africa and on a global level.
Please permit me to take this opportunity to encourage you all, as ECOWAS citizens, to continue the mission of our founding fathers to promote a harmonized social cooperation and integration and an effective economic development, in order to improve the living standards of all ECOWAS peoples now and for generations to come.
As you are all aware, the serious negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s economy including that of ECOWAS remains palpable as most sectors have had to shut down and massive unemployment is looming large across the globe. On the whole, the picture is gloomy. Furthermore, universal imperatives such as social distancing applied to check the spread of COVID-19 means that the 2020 edition of ECOWAS Day (May 28) will be marked in silence.
In this regard, Management urges staff members to use the day to reflect on the vision of our Bank and how best to uphold and implement the credo, bearing in mind that our attitude to work and comportment in all circumstances, are the building blocks to attaining our collective vision.
Long Live the Community, Long Live EBID.
Happy ECOWAS Day!
