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African Union renews talks on common currency, African monetary fund
June 12, 2015, 5:04 am

Representatives from 25 African nations signed an initial agreement on Wednesday to create a free-trade zone linking three economic blocs that would unite 57 per cent of the continent's population [GCIS]

Representatives from 25 African nations signed an initial agreement on Wednesday to create a free-trade zone linking three economic blocs that would unite 57 per cent of the continent’s population [GCIS]

The African Union is pushing for faster regional integration to speed up the implementation of the pan-continental currency, officials have said on the sidelines of the 25th AU Summit taking place in Johannesburg.

Africa aims to have a common currency by 2025 and an African Monetary Fund, the economic affairs commissioner at the African Union (AU) said on Thursday.

Governments hope this will attract higher levels of inward investment, connect Africa through world class infrastructure, with a concerted push to finance and implement major projects.

Experts say there would have to be an intermediate step towards having an African central bank which is going to issue the common currency.

Anthony Mothae Maruping, AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, said on Thursday, that leaders of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi have already signed a protocol in the Ugandan capital of Kampala for the adoption of a common currency in 10 years.

African central bank governors have also met and deliberated on the establishment of a African monetary fund, but this will be the end result of the “Agenda 2063”, Maruping said.

The continent has an estimated $50-billion annual infrastructure funding gap.

An African monetary union is envisaged in the Abuja Treaty of 1991, but concerns abound that some member countries will lose out from a single currency, undercut by the disparate economic strengths of the various economic blocs.

Representatives from 25 African nations signed an initial agreement on Wednesday to create a free-trade zone linking three economic blocs that would unite 57 per cent of the continent’s population.

The Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) would bring together more than 60 per cent of the continent’s gross domestic product, valued at $1.2 trillion, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said.

These measures are aimed at boosting the continent’s competitiveness in global trade and lift millions of people in the 54-nation AU out of poverty.

 

TBP and Agencies