East African Community Heads of State will convene this evening at State House for an Ordinary Summit hosted by President William Ruto.
The EAC has been pushing for regional integration and last year December, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) passed a bill establishing the East African Financial Services Commission (EAFSC), one of the key steps on the road to achieving regional monetary union.
The EAFSC will work to harmonize financial services regulation, including in non-banking financial industries such as insurance, pensions, capital markets and microfinance while promoting regional integration in the sector.
The member states of the East African Community (EAC) however, have yet to decide where to locate the planned new central bank, to be called the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI). The EAMI will take responsibility for overseeing East Africa’s banking sector before also assuming the role of regional central bank.
At present, most of the EAC institutions, such as the Legislative Assembly, Court of Justice, and Competition Authority, are housed in Arusha in northern Tanzania until permanent homes for them are decided.
Most member states would like to see a fair agreement on locating them as a whole, rather than ad hoc decisions on individual institutions being made.
