Economy

Kenyan President, Ruto, calls for single currency to facilitate trade at Heads of State Summit

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President of Kenya, William Samoei Ruto, has called for a resolution on possibilities of using a single currency in trade facilitation in Africa to eliminate obstacles posed by varying currencies.

Ruto observed that the region lacked a single system that seamlessly facilitated trade among nations, eliminating the obstacles posed by varying currencies.

He said this on Thursday in Lusaka at the 22nd COMESA Heads of States and Government Summit under the theme: “Economic Integration for a thriving COMESA anchored on Green Investment, Value Addition and Tourism.”

“It is also imperative that we proactively seek a resolution to the disparities in currencies and the consequential impediments it poses to intra-African trade. Trade cannot take place without efficient and unified payment systems.

“Although there has been introduction of several regional payment infrastructures in the continent, we lack a single system that seamlessly facilitates trade among our nations, eliminating the obstacles posed by varying currencies,” Ruto said.

He, however, acknowledged the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) initiative by the AFREXIM Bank to support trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Ruta noted that banks and payment providers could plug directly to it to enable secure and instant payments in local currencies.

Read more: Trade portal providing market information to businesses in the COMESA region under execution

“The system is designed to reduce or eliminate the challenges of cross border payments and by so doing accelerate intra Africa trade.

“Without a single payment platform, payment instructions from one African country to another typically passes through several intermediary financial institutions leading to increased costs,” he said.

At the same summit, President of Malawi Lazarus Chakwera, expressed concern that the region was not yet pursuing economic interaction with the urgency it deserved.

Chakwera said economic integration was a matter of urgency because since the time the AfCFTA was ratified, there had already been forces from beyond the continent moving into position to work own economic framework to their advantage rather than Africa.

“As such, if we do not quickly get our act together with economic integration on our own terms, it may very well be that by the time we fully integrate, the mechanism will have already been rigged against us to ensure that the beneficiaries of our economic integration are non-African economies,” he warned.

Chakwera then made a call to move with speed on the key pillars of economic integration such as working together to increase productive capacities in key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and mining.

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