AU campaigns for ratification of monetary fund statutes

After at long last adopting the statutes of the African Monetary Fund by Ministers of Finance in Abuja mid this year and its endorsement by Heads of State during their summit in Malabo, another thorny issue now on the table is its ratification by the parliaments.

A mission of the Economic Affairs Department of the African Union (AU) is presently in Cameroon to hold talks with government authorities in view of getting Cameroon set the pace for the ratification by other member countries.

The Prerequisite In a chat with Cameroon Tribune within the sidelines of their campaign in Cameroon, the Director of Economic Affairs of the AU, René Kouassi, said at least 15 of the 54 countries the continent has needs to ratify the statutes before the fund can effectively go operational.

“Our mission is to revive the file of the African Monetary Fund, hold talks with Cameroonian authorities to come up with the best approach to advancing the process. We had put a hold on it because we wanted the highest authorities of the African Union (summit of Heads of State and Government) to adopt the protocol (statutes) because without it, it was difficult to move forward,” he said.

Mr Kouassi added that they are in Cameroon to discuss with officials of the Ministries of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development as well as those of Finance and External Relations to have a common approach to rendering functional the much-heralded continental monetary fund. He noted that Cameroon that hosts the headquarters of the fund could set the pace for others to follow.

The ratification by the parliaments, he added, would also entail disbursing the counterpart funding by the ratified countries so as to take the structure off the ground. With it, the AU Director of Economic Affairs said; coming up with the policy for lending and borrowing, drawing up its organigramme and mobilising its resources would follow suit.

What Advantages For Cameroon? As host of the headquarters, experts say Cameroon stands to gain a lot in terms of employment, as so many job opportunities will be offered as well as infrastructure development. Constructing a structure to lodge the offices would equally give a boost to urban development in the country.

Analysts say Cameroon like the rest of the African countries has an enormous deficit of finances to boost its economy. The fund, they say, could put in place less-cumbersome loans schemes for growth-induced sectors, help in currency convertibility to accelerate intra-African trade thereby creating employment and wealth for sustained growth.