Experts charged with the establishment of the East African Monetary Union yesterday resumed talks in Kigali to negotiate the establishment of a central bank and other institutions in the region.Rwanda’s chief negotiator, Dr Frank Kigabo, said the discussions will centre on some remaining articles promising that these would be finalised by the end of the meeting this Saturday. Dr Kigabo is a Chief Economist at the National Bank of Rwanda.He observed that for the single currency to take effect, there was need to set up a central bank to control all the financial institutions in the region.“We have to establish various institutions like a regional central bank, enforce mechanisms, monetary institutions and a statistics bureau before the single currency comes into force,” he said in interview with The New Times.He expressed optimism towards the completion of the monetary union protocol by end of this year.Through the establishment of a regional single currency, all national currencies would cease to exist and all partner states obliged to switch to the new currency. Addressing delegates, the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure at the EAC Secretariat, Dr Enos Bukuku, said the meeting marked another bold testimony on the collective resolve to deliver a monetary union protocol for the people of East Africa as well as lowering the cost of doing business in the region. He said the provisions to be negotiated during the meeting were critical towards the setting up of a monetary union as they underpin any integration initiatives. “Our people, energised by the benefits of the customs union and the Common Market, the challenges associated with the same notwithstanding, are more than ready to embark on reducing the cost of doing business by attaining a Monetary Union” Dr Bukuku emphasised. He further reminded the negotiators that many East Africans within and beyond the region were anxiously awaiting to appraise their resolutions over the creation of the monetary union.So far, the European Union remains the only regional bloc with a single currency; the Euro.
