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(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti eyes SADC common currency by 2013

Biti eyes SADC common currency by 2013
by
14/12/2009 00:00:00

SOUTHERN African countries could have a common currency as early as three years, Zimbabwe Finance Minister said. Tendai Biti said the currency would likely be the South African rand “by another name”.

“We are happy to go that route,” Biti said during a lecture at the University of Manchester last Friday. Biti said he expected the currency to be adopted first by the 14-nation trade bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and could expand to include countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).

But the minister said the plan depended on regional powerhouse, South Africa, giving its nod.

Biti added: “There is some way to go, certainly there would be a need to create a SADC reserve bank. We could end up with a union along the lines of the European Union.

“If South Africa is flexible, then this dream for some of us would not be a dream anymore.”

Biti said the economies of Southern African countries, taken individually, were too small to attract big money international investors.

“We must create one big market to be competitive. A single currency would also strengthen our union and foster regional integration.”

Biti said the push for a common currency could spell the death of the Zimbabwe dollar which is currently suspended following Zimbabwe's decision to dollarise earlier this year.

Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe currently form SADC.

Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, the DRC, Swaziland, Malawi and Zambia are also in Comesa along with Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda.

Labels: CURRENCY, REGIONAL INTEGRATION, SADC, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 6:12 AM