Sub-Saharan Africa: the « blues» of regional Unions (part 1)
July 25, 2025
Created in 1975, it brought together15 member states in 2024 with a total of some 440 million inhabitants – including 170 million for Nigeria alone – and a total Gross Domestic Product of around 500 billion current USD. Three economic heavyweights belong to the Community: Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, respectively the 4th, 9th and 10th largest African economies by GDP in 2024. In this respect, ECOWAS also includes several countries with already diversified productive structures, even if the extractive industries, traditionally decisive in Nigeria, have an increasingly significant weight throughout the region. One of the keys to this positive development lies in the actions gradually implemented and largely successful to consolidate the Union : free movement of people, establishment of a Common External Tariff (CET) for imports ; promotion of regional transport and electricity infrastructure and active role in financing them by the Community Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), creation of the Union’s Parlaiment and several specialized agencies,…
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