Posted on July, 18, 2019 at 10:28 am
Tanzania traders can now sell goods and services across Africa using local currency after the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) launched a digital payments platform.
Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah told the 12th Extraordinary Summit of African Union (AU) Heads of State in Niamey, Niger that the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) will see each African country use its own currency in any transaction, doing away with the traditional reliance on the US dollar as the sole currency for cross-border trade payment.
“PAPSS, developed in collaboration with the African Union is a platform that will domesticate intra-regional payments saving the continent more than Sh500 billion in payment transactional costs per annum while formalising an estimated Sh5 trillion intra-African trade,” he said.
Tanzania’s banking sector recorded a profit before tax of TZS528b in 2017, compared to TZS461b in 2018, representing an increase of 14.64%.
Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said free intra-Africa trade would increase intra-Africa trade from the current 17 percent compared to intra-Europe trade (60 percent), USA (40 percent) and Asia at 30 percent.
Tanzania trade with East Africa Community states worth Sh10.54 billion between January and May,28.58 percent more than the same period in 2017.
Professor Oramah supported implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) deal saying a Sh100 billion kitty had been set aside to enable countries adjust in an orderly manner to sudden ‘significant’ tariff revenue losses as a result of the implementation of the agreement. “This facility will help countries to accelerate the ratification of the AfCFTA.
You must not look back as starting the operational phase of the AfCFTA is a movement that is now unstoppable,” he said.
Source: IPP Media