Building a monetary union in Africa

It’s like the European Union but for East Africa.

In this podcast by the IMF, find out how Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi stand to benefit from the creation of the East African Community.  There will be a common currency as well as more trade and investment too.  Will a union also expose them to more risk?

These five countries have already seen some benefits from regional integration.

“It took more than three weeks to move goods from Kenya or Tanzania to Uganda; now it takes four to six days,” said the IMF’s Oral Williams, one of the editors of a recent book on the East African Community.

Maybe Europe should take a page out of Africa’s playbook. Listen and decide for yourself.

This article is published in collaboration with IMF Direct. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Oral Williams is a contributor at IMF Direct. 

Image: An aerial view of Kenya’s capital city Nairobi on July 13, 2001.