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Mr Sindiso Ngwenya

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
CENTRAL bank governors from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) are pushing for the full utilisation of Regional Payment and Settlement System.

The Regional Payment and Settlement System (REPSS) is a multilateral netting system with end-of-day settlement in a single currency that provides a single gateway for central banks within the trading bloc.

Nine of the 19- member bloc are already implementing the REPSS.

“Comesa Committee of Governors of Central Banks wants all Comesa member countries to fully utilise the Regional Payment and Settlement System.

“In their 22nd meeting that took place in Bujumbura, Burundi from 29 to 30 March 2017, the governors appreciated the progress that has been achieved in the implementation of the system with nine countries now live on  REPSS,” said Comesa in a statement.

Through REPSS importers and exporters would be able to pay and receive payment for goods and services using an efficient and cost effective platform, thus increasing intra-regional trade.

Speaking at the recently held meeting, Burundi central bank governor Mr Jean Ciza was quoted appreciating the success that has been achieved by Comesa in monetary cooperation and urged member countries that went live on REPSS to fully utilise the system.

“I urge those countries that are not in the system to put more effort to go live,” he said while commending the Comesa Monetary Institute (CMI) for its capacity building initiatives that have helped central banks’ staff to get practical skills in macroeconomic management and assessment of financial system stability.

During the forum, the governors discussed the activities that were undertaken by CMI and the Comesa Clearing House (CCH), the progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Comesa Monetary Integration Programme.

They agreed that pursuing appropriate macro-economic policies and accelerating regional integration were crucial to address the development deficit in the structural transformation in Comesa region.

“Macro-economic convergence and financial system development and stability, which are within mandates of the Comesa Committee of Governors of Central Banks, will make trade and investment as easy as possible,” the governors noted.

In his remarks, Comesa secretary general Mr Sindiso Ngwenya described the CMI and CCH as important instruments for developing a policy and institutional framework to enhance monetary integration in the region.

“Modern economies are increasingly based on knowledge.

“As a knowledge, learning and innovation-based organisation; Comesa needs to make a paradigm shift in order to ensure that there is more focus on results rather than on processes,” he said.

Mr Ngwenya underscored the importance of business to business linkages, the diversification of member countries’ economies, focusing on agro-led industrialisation, green growth through greening the financial system and use of online trading platforms.

He said central banks have a big role to play given the enormous investment needs to bring these transformations in our economies.

Governors and experts from the central banks of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended the meeting.

Executives from the CMI, CCH and the Association of African Central Banks also attended the forum.