East African Community to have single currency by 2031

Initially, the committee had plans of launching a single currency for the region by 2024, but this was reversed following a series of reviews of the implementation towards the establishment of the East Africa Monetary Union (EAMU).

“The committee noted the revised timelines set out in the EAMU roadmap, with the new date of achieving the monetary union by 2031,” Deiudonne Murengerantwari, the Bank of Burundi Governor, who is also the chairperson of the committee said according after a high-level meeting.

Earlier, according to the Business Insider, achieving a single currency for the region within four years was initiated by the EAC Secretary-General, Peter Mathuki, who declared that the “East African Monetary Union would be achieved within the next four years.”

“The single currency will ease business and movement of persons within the region. It is in line with our goal to make the region borderless so that people can move and trade freely as envisioned in the Common Market Protocol,” he said.

Adoption of the single currency is stipulated in the EAMU protocol signed in 2013.

One of the bodies that should have been created is the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI).

The Bill for EAMI has not only been passed by the regional assembly, but also endorsed by all partner states.

The EAMI is supposed to be transformed into the East African Central Bank, which would issue a single currency for the entire community.