Work on EAC single currency begins

KIGALI - The East African Community (EAC) secretariat will today launch a three week series of consultations among the partner states, on the establishment of the East African Monetary Union (EAMU), The New Times has learnt. The consultations to set up the East African Monetary Union will target Kigali from September 17 -18 at the National Bank of Rwanda and at the Kigali Serena Hotel. The consultations which kick-off in Tanzania today will then move to; Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Today’s launch is a follow up to the establishment of the EAC Customs Union, and the ongoing finalization of the negotiations on the establishment of the East African Common Market, in January 2010. Seen as the next major stage in the East African region’s integration process, the EAC Heads of State have directed that the Monetary Union be in place by 2012. The consultations will be spearheaded by the Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Alloys Mutabingwa, two consultants from European Central Bank - Erwin Nierop and Scheller Hans Peter; the EAC Principal Economist (Fiscal and Monetary) - Tharcisse Kadede; and other senior EAC officials together with the Central Banks. The consultations will take stakeholders through the prerequisites for the East African Monetary Union; the establishment of the legal and institutional framework necessary for the implementation of the EAMU; the preparatory work for the move the EAMU inclusive of the measures to be taken in replacing the national currencies with the future single currency. They will also discuss the operational regulatory framework for the EAMU. The stakeholders are expected to actively contribute to the discussions on the establishment of the single currency. They will also discuss the preliminary findings of a study on the establishment of the EAMU, carried out by the European Central Bank. The EAC says on its website that : “the consultations will target a broad spectrum of stakeholders and to include among others; the National Central Banks (NCBs), Ministries of Finance, EAC Affairs, Planning, Trade, Industry; Capital Markets Authorities; Bureaus of Statistics; bankers’ associations; academia, Parliamentarians, the Private Sector and the Civil Society.” Ends