PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | FILE Minister for East African Community Musa Sirma.
NATION MEDIA GROUP
............
The establishment of the East African Monetary Union will be delayed as member states miss the key deadline.
During a press briefing on Monday, East African
Community (EAC) Minister Musa Sirma revealed that presidents from the
five partner states will not sign the protocol for the East African
Monetary Union during an upcoming meeting as had earlier been planned.
According to Mr Sirma, although all the articles
of the draft protocol have been negotiated, there are still contentious
issues that the countries need to resolve.
"The protocol will therefore not be ready for signing during the 14th summit," noted Mr Sirma.
Presidents from Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania
and Burundi will meet in Nairobi on Wednesday ahead of the 14th Summit
of the Heads of State on Friday.
Among the contentious issues cited by Mr Sirma are the creation of institutions to govern the monetary union, the management of foreign reserves, the criteria for macroeconomic convergence and the funding mechanism of the union.
Among the contentious issues cited by Mr Sirma are the creation of institutions to govern the monetary union, the management of foreign reserves, the criteria for macroeconomic convergence and the funding mechanism of the union.
The creation of the monetary union is the next
step in the integration of the East African Community after the adoption
of a common market and a customs union.
However, experts have warned against the quick
adoption of the monetary union pointing to the varying macroeconomic
conditions by member states.
Further, they use the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone as a cautionary tale for the bloc's ambitions to become a monetary union.
The presidents will on Wednesday travel to Arusha
to officially open a Sh1.5 billion (14 million Euro) headquarters built
with grants from the German government.
They will also inaugurate the 240 kilometre Arusha-Namanga-Athi-River road.
The Sh132 billion ($156 million) road improvement
project was funded by the governments of Japan, Kenya and Tanzania as
well as the African Development Bank (AfDB).
During their meeting on Friday the heads of state will deliberate the entry of Somalia and South Sudan into the EAC bloc.
Source:Nation
Source:Nation
This post was written by: Author Name
Your description comes here!
Get Free Email Updates to your Inbox!
.JPG)
Post a Comment