East Africa is one of Africa’s most progressive sub-regions.
While not without its intra woven socio-economic issues and conflicts, East Africa is nevertheless in the forefront of the age long goal of creating a united Africa.
Its trade collaborations, cooperative economic initiatives and shared resources has made it Africa’s most neoteric regions. However, its push to unify the region’s currency is a strategy in a league of its own.
Even amongst the most progressive regions globally, this sort of idea is circumvented. Economies around the world without an intensely shared history would just rather avoid the topic, but not East Africa which is visibly keen on realizing their unification dream.
The region is not just insistent on creating a unified currency, it is also pushing aggressively for the actualization of this initiative.
The East Africa Community (EAC), recently decided that a single currency can be achieved within the next four years, despite the push back by a technical working group that the deadline should be moved to 2031.
Based on the initial schedule, the unified currency was expected to be in place by 2024.
This four year push was initiated by the EAC Secretary-General Peter Mathuki, who declared that the East African Monetary Union would be achieved within the next four years.
He also noted that the Council of Ministers representing the group is expected to make a decision soon on the location of the East African Monetary Institute.
“The single currency will ease business and movement of persons within the region. It is in line with our goal to make the region borderless so that people can move and trade freely as envisioned in the Common Market Protocol,” he said.
“Plans are at an advanced stage to hold similar consultations for Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya and South Sudan in the 2022-2023 Financial Year,” he added.
He disclosed this information to newsmen during his 5-day retreat at the Maanzoni Lodge in Machakos County.
Additionally, the East African Community is sending a delegation to Somalia to evaluate the country’s inclination to join the fold.
The head of state summit of the region asked the council to follow up on the application by Somalia to join the community.
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