By Tabora Bojang
Central Banks in Africa are in full support of establishing a single African currency which is going to be backed by a monetary institute and a continental central bank.
According to the director of banking at the Central Bank of The Gambia, Karamo Jawara, the realisation of a single currency will be facilitated by the establishment of an Africa Monetary Institute and African Central Bank who will oversee the use of the currency.
Mr. Jawara was speaking to The Standard on the sidelines of the 44th ordinary convergence of the Association of African Central Banks, AACB, currently on in Banjul.
He disclosed that the African heads of state have already agreed for the Africa Monetary Institute to be hosted in Nigeria by December 2022 while other outstanding technical issues are being worked on with AU member states.
“The target is that by 2037 this currency will be in action. We are still at early stages, doing a lot of harmonisation because the continent is divided into 5 regions and each of the regions should come up with a harmonised policy frameworks that will define the exchange regime and the monetary operations among others. This meeting [in Banjul] has now defined deadlines for countries to speed up on these frameworks and according to the work program, Nigeria should assume the responsibility of Africa Monetary Institute by the end of the year. The AMI should be premised on status and structures outlining the institute’s organisation, structure and staffing. Once the AMI is established, countries are expected to sign up the structure and status so that we move towards the realisation of the single currency. The AMI will be the technical agency that will do the concrete and advisory role in meeting the target,” Jawara said.
