AFRICA’S SINGLE CURRENCY REALISABLE, SAYS AFCFTA SCRIBE

the free trade area to be done in the local currencies of each member state started last month in six countries and would run for another two months.

Mene said: “We have 42 currencies in Africa. The cost of converting currencies amounts to $5 billion a year. This is very big amount of money that can be seen as revenue forgone. So we want to reduce and eliminate this cost to converting currencies in Africa for the purpose of trading.

“The PAPSS is a very important pillar for the implementation of the AfCFTA. We are grateful to Afreximbank for making liquidity available to operationalise the PAPSS.

“The pilot countries for PAPSS are Ghana, Nigeria Liberia and S/Leone. Local banks will be able to switch on to the platform once the platform is up and running throughout the continent. I hope the platform will be available for all African countries that want to switch on to it by the end of this year.

“This is one of the strongest signals so far that the AfCFTA can work, will work and will be effective.