Bosi IMF aionya EAC

Visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde is now warning Kenya against rushing to implement the East African Community Monetary Union. 

Speaking to a section of the private sector on Monday, the IMF boss said the EAC is not yet ready for the move and needed to address key issues before they unite their currencies.

Some of the challenges, she said, include the increasing non-tariff barriers, varying economies and different tax regimes in respective countries.

“As a member of the Monetary Union of Europe, I have to tell you that it is very exciting ambitious project, but one where as Aristotle would put it; hasten slowly. Don’t rush,” Lagarde said.

She said Kenya, being a strong advocate of the regional economic integration should guide the other EAC member states in ensuring that common blunders experienced by other unions are not be repeated.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is the current chairman of the East African Community.

“Make sure you learn from our mistakes and that the East African Monetary Union can even teach the Europeans how to do it right,” Lagarde emphasised.

The Monetary Union Protocol was signed last month by regional heads of states, kicking off plans to have a common currency for the bloc within 10 years.

But the IMF chief says the countries should first come up with proper and clear convergence criteria, drawn from lessons learnt in other unions.

“There are multiple experiences, whether it is European Monetary Union, the Caribbean Unions, the West African Unions and all other unions. There are mistakes, gaps, omissions that can be learnt from,” she said.

Capital