Mauritius Projects Bright Future For COMESA
Mauritius'
central bank Governor, Rundheersing Bheenick has said the economic prospects
for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) bloc are
'brightening rapidly' as the continent pulls through the global downturn.
He said economic growth in the
bloc, which includes oil producer Libya and resource rich Democratic Republic of
Congo, was 5.4 percent in 2008, but he did not give a comparative figure
or forecast for other years.
In his words, "The dark
clouds that were hanging over Africa earlier this year have rapidly dissipated
and the prospects are brightening rapidly for most member states. We believe
Africa is headed in the right direction.’’
He was speaking in Mauritius on
Wednesday, days ahead of a COMESA central bank governors' meeting.
Bheenick said the worldwide
economic crisis had not set back plans for monetary convergence by the 19-member
regional bloc and that one convergence criterion is single-figure inflation but
many COMESA central banks are grappling with double-digit inflation.
How they fare
Year-on-year inflation in Kenya,
east Africa's largest economy, came in at 17.9 percent in September.
In the Seychelles, consumer
prices were up 29.3 percent year-on-year, while in Zimbabwe, the IMF
estimates inflation peaked at 500 billion percent in December, before a unity
government adopted the use of multiple foreign currencies.
Bheenick said intra-COMESA trade
was worth $14.3 billion in 2008, compared with $3.1 billion in
2000, adding that member states paid a total of $600 million in trade
financing fees and charges last year.
Agenda
The governors' two-day meeting,
starting on Thursday, will assess progress in the establishment of a regional
payment and settlement system - dubbed REPSS - to smooth intra-bloc trade and
slash trade financing charges.
REPSS, which will be housed at
the Bank of Mauritius, will be a multiple currency-based facility, dealing in
the dollar, euro, yen and the British pound.
The meeting will also decide
where to set up the COMESA Monetary Institute which is due to start operations
on January 1, 2011. Both Zambia and Kenya have offered to host the bureau.
Earlier this year, COMESA
launched its custom union with a three year transition period for member-states
to harmonise taxes and form common policies.
REUTERS/Yinka
