Monetary Integration In Africa: Problems And Prospects

ABSTRACT Monetary union has become a contentious issue in recent times especially since the successful launch of the European monetary zone. The African Union has plans to create an economic and monetary union for its members. This will involve the creation of a new unified currency for the whole of Africa. This work seeks to give an appraisal of the significance of a monetary union to Africa, look at the challenges and prospects of such an agenda and determine whether or not a monetary union is viable for the Continent. To do this, I reviewed literature on existing monetary union and looked at the challenges they had faced. I also looked at the benefits of a monetary union to the countries that belonged to the monetary unions. My findings show that most of the RECs in Africa have plans to implement monetary unions in their respective regions. Also the policies of the RECs are not being harmonized which might pose problems in future when the continent wide monetary union is to be launched.