The anticipated single currency to serve as the medium of exchange among the seven East African countries will be rolled out in 2031.
This is according to Dr Pantaleo Joseph Kessy, the Principal Economist, at the East African Community Secretariat in Arusha.
It means in seven years’ time from now, the seven member states of the EAC will dissolve their respective currencies in favor of the single monetary coins and bank notes, or maybe digital currency.
“The East African Community will float its single in 2031 and the EAC Secretariat is updating the provision of the Double Taxation Agreement which is expected to be ready for ratification by end of the year,” Dr Kessy maintains.
But of course prior to the East African Single Currency, there must be a Central Bank of East Africa as well as the Regional Monetary Institution but the official has not mentioned when these will be in place.
“Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as well as Rwanda, Burundi and South-Sudan belong to a single EA community now and this will only have meaning if the biggest barrier to trade, that is different currencies, are not joined together to have one currency, acceptable across all borders,” stated Mathuki.
The issue of EAC single currency was first brought to attention in 2015, by Central Bank Governors from the then five East African Community Member states of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania.
It was during their 18th Ordinary Meeting of the Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC) held in Arusha which foresaw that the single currency for the East African Community should start circulating in 2024.
It was stated during their MAC gathering that the then five countries of the EAC in their quest to form a single currency also needed to establish a joint central bank.
The EAC Central Bank was focused for the year 2024. This was also cited to be the only remaining crucial step towards forming the ultimate East African Political Federation.
It is now seven years since the meeting with EAC members increased from five to seven and the single currency gets another promise.
The single currency issue was again discussed during the recent Validation Webinar for the Study on Discriminative Taxes and Harmonization of Excise Duties in the East African Community (EAC).
It was organized in partnership with TradeMark Africa (TMA) and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
This time the EAC Currency took another seven-year flight away to 2031.
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