The Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC) Dr. Peter Mathuki announced on Thursday, January 12, that the EAC’s seven partner countries will have a common currency by 2027.
Mathuki stated that the Council of Ministers is prepared to make a decision on the location of the East African Monetary Institute by the end of 2023 during a five-day retreat for all EAC staff at Maanzoni Lodge in Machakos County.
The East African Monetary Institute will serve as a forerunner to the East African Central Bank and will be responsible for issuing the planned single currency.
“This year will are going to finalise where we will have the East Africa Monetary institute – the constitution that will create a roadmap for having one currency. Hopefully in the next 3-4 years will have a common currency,” said Mr Mathuki.
“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.”
Mathuki also stated that intra-EAC trade has increased, with the value of intra-EAC trade in 2022 standing at $9.5 billion, up from $7.1 billion in 2019.
Mathuki attributed the increase in intra-regional trade to the members’ political goodwill.
“The high-level discussions among the Heads of State had eliminated many non-tariff barriers hampering intra-regional trade and expressed hope that this and other factors would help raise the level of intra-regional trade in East Africa to at least 40% over the next five years,” added the EAC Secretary General.
On Somalia’s admission to the EAC, Mathuki stated that a verification mission will be sent to Somalia to assess the country’s readiness to join the community by the end of January.
Mathuki described Somalia’s long Indian Ocean Red Sea route connecting Africa to the Arabian Peninsula as a thriving economic zone that will provide enormous benefits to the EAC.
“The exploitation of Somalia’s blue economy resources such as fish and the expansive coastline is also set to boost the regional economy,” he said.
The plans to unite the East African Community have often been derailed by conflicts among member states.
However, the announcement by the Secretary General of a single currency by 2027 demonstrates that the EAC is committed to moving forward with its goal of creating a borderless region for free movement and trade.
