East African Monetary Union workshop opens in Kampala, Uganda / Minister urges for roadmap and structure for the negotiations on EAMU / BoU Chief says EAMU project is one of the most important institutional foundations for the economic prosperity of East Africa in the 21st Century
ARUSHA, Tanzania, January 19, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Uganda’s Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Hajjat Syda Bumba has highly commended the EAC Secretariat for spearheading the integration process and reiterated that the establishment of a monetary union with a single currency will be a defining moment in the history of the EAC integration.
Hon. Syda Bumba, who was officially opening today a three-day validation workshop organized by the EAC Secretariat on the draft Report on the establishment of a monetary union among the East African Community Partner States at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, Uganda, said the monetary union will among other things put an end to the artificial separation of people of East Africa, many of whom are of common descent and even some of the same families who have had to suffer traumatizing exchange rate realignments in the region.
The Hon. Minister said through the creation of a monetary union, EAC will be offering its citizens and the generations to come a more concrete symbol of the common destiny it has freely chosen; that of building a Community based on Peace and Prosperity.
“The introduction of a single currency will confirm the advent of genuine culture of monetary stability in EAC that is essential to the establishment of stable, sound and efficiently managed economic framework” affirmed the Minister, adding that the economic and monetary union will revitalize the EAC economy and single market, foster investment, boost business competitiveness, benefit consumers and savers and make work and travel easier for the citizens. This, she said, will demonstrate the existence and unity of East Africans.
Hon. Syda Bumba noted that the ministers responsible for Finance in the Partner States must strengthen coordination and surveillance of agreed EAC convergence criteria if the Community was to achieve the Monetary Union. In this context, the Minister said there was need to monitor among others; the macroeconomic convergence to support safe increase in the degree of fixity of bilateral exchange rates; monitor policies that improve the functioning of the EAC economies, increase their stability, and strengthen their shock-absorbing capacity; as well as monitor institutions to ensure the adoption and well-coordinated implementation of an appropriate monetary and exchange rate policy mix.
Hon. Bumba disclosed that the Ministers of Finance of the Partner States were seeking a more robust role in speare heading regional economic integration especially the monetary union issues.
The Hon. Minister urged the EAC Secretariat to urgently convene a meeting of the Ministers of Finance and Central Bank officials from the Partner States to work out a roadmap and structure for the negotiations as this was critical and urgent if the monetary union program, as directed by the Summit, was to be met.
The Governor Bank of Uganda (BoU), Prof. Emmanual Tumusiime-Mutebile, recognized that setting up a Monetary Union is a very challenging project that will require a lot of hard work and careful design. “We will need to keep our nerves in the face of inevitable setbacks, but I believe that the project is worthwhile and once it comes to fruition, it will be one of the most important institutional foundations for the economic prosperity of East Africa in the 21st Century,” noted the BoU Chief.
Prof. Emmanual Tumusiime-Mutebile, who was giving a keynote address, said the Monetary Union will send a powerful signal to the rest of the world that East Africa is united with a single market and it (East Africa) intends to be an important player in the global economy, and that each of the member states was prepared to put aside purely parochial interests to achieve this.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General (Planning & Infrastructure), Mr. Alloys Mutabingwa asserted that the progress so far made in the EAC integration agenda had inevitably set the stage for the East African Monetary Union, which, as directed by the 6th Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State should be in place by 2012.
Mr. Mutabingwa said the output of the Kampala workshop will enable the consultants to finalize and submit the final report of the study on the establishment of the Monetary Union to the EAC Secretariat by end of February 2010. It is then that the EAC Monetary Affairs Committee will consider the report in the first week of March this year.
The Committee will make specific recommendations to the Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for Finance, Investment, Trade and Industry which will consider the recommendations and make a decision on the way forward. The sectoral council is expected to convene ahead of the full Council session scheduled for April, 2010. It is then that a report of the findings on the way forward will be submitted to the EAC Heads of States Summit.
The Kampala workshop is being attended by senior officials from the Partner States’ Ministries of Finance, EAC Affairs, Planning, Trade, and Industry; Central Banks; Bureau of Statistics; Capital Markets Authorities; Association of Bankers; the academia; Members of EALA; the Private Sector; and the Civil Society.
SOURCE
East African Community (EAC)
