The countries in the East African Community face a dilemma. They need to achieve economic integration in order to maximise their rate of economic growth, but recent history demonstrates that the European model may not be ideal. In particular, the plight of Greece and some other financially stressed European nations demonstrates that a single currency can lead to problems if countries have differing financial approaches.
Accordingly, an East African Community taskforce is investigating the approach taken in West Africa by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), which was created in 1994 with Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Guinea-Bissau as its members. The countries share the CFA franc as their common currency, but there is a lower degree of monetary union than is the case in Europe.
The eight UEMOA countries are a subset of the 15 ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries. They have adopted a customs union and common external tariffs. UEMOA is further along the path to economic integration than any other African group of countries, although none of the member countries are widely regarded as economic superstars.