By Alistair Thomson

DAKAR, March 29 (Reuters) - New Governor Philippe-Henri Dacoury-Tabley took the helm of West Africa's eight-nation central bank on Saturday with a warning that high inflation and low growth threaten the region's economies.

Dacoury-Tabley, who was due to be sworn in as governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) at a ceremony later on Saturday, said in a statement that a board meeting on Friday had expressed concern over fuel and food inflation.

The bank serves West Africa's monetary union of mostly ex-French colonies who use the CFA franc <XOF=> -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

"The board ... was particularly worried by the acceleration in consumer price inflation within the Union, notably petroleum products, imported foodstuffs and local cereals," he said.

Rising food prices have triggered unrest around the world. Angry crowds rioted in BCEAO member Burkina Faso in February to demand tax cuts. The government suspended duty on food imports but unions want more cuts and have threatened a general strike.

"Emphasis must be placed on researching ways to better exploit the productive capacity of the Union and to increase processing capacity in order to ensure demand is adequately met, especially for food," Dacoury-Tabley said in his statement.

The CFA franc's peg to the euro has shielded its members to an extent from import-related inflationary pressures, as the euro has increased in value versus the dollar. But that has also led to concerns for the region's competitiveness, especially in key export industries like cotton, which is priced in dollars.

The board statement gave no inflation figures. West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) data showed food prices -- the biggest expense for most African households -- rose 7.3 percent in the year to January, pushing overall consumer inflation up to 3.7 percent.

Some economists, such as David Cowan at Citi in London, suggest headline inflation may be understated because the food weighting in UEMOA's prices basket is just 36.9 percent -- far lower than the African average of around 50 percent.

WEAK GROWTH

"The board was equally concerned by the Union's weak economic growth rate, which remained unchanged at 2.9 percent in 2007, as in 2006, due notably to the impact of the energy crisis and a downturn in agricultural production," Dacoury-Tabley said.

A summit of heads of state picked Dacoury-Tabley, who was previously a board member for Ivory Coast at the African Development Bank, in January to succeed fellow Ivorian Charles Konan Banny as governor of the central bank.

Banny had been absent for over a year after his short-lived appointment as consensus prime minister in Ivory Coast in one of a series of peace deals after the country's 2002-03 civil war.

Dacoury-Tabley's brother Louis is a leading figure in the New Forces rebel movement which started Ivory Coast's civil war in 2002. Louis became minister for solidarity and war victims in a consensus government after the latest peace deal a year ago.

Ivory Coast, the world's No. 1 cocoa producer and by far the largest economy in the monetary union, has traditionally nominated one of its nationals to head the central bank.

The West African CFA franc was created in 1945 to protect former colonies from the impact of the devaluation of the French franc after World War Two. The CFA franc was devalued by 50 percent in 1994, prompting anger from some people in the region. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com) (Writing by Alistair Thomson)

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