While opening the Global African Investment Summit (TGAIS) in Kigali, President Paul Kagame called on African governments to be time conscious in the implementation of regional integration projects, highlighting the enormous cost that is incurred when such projects are delayed or stalled.
Such projects include accepting regional currencies as a means of payment which is meant to see region’s member states save a substantial amount of money that was previously lost through exchange.
Such a move will also cushion local currencies’ against drastic fluctuation against foreign currencies as it has been before. The move to trade in national currencies will protect them from adverse vulnerability of the local currencies in the member-countries of the bloc.
Today, global trade is dominated by the dollar, which often results in the volatility of a particular currency in the currency market in the developing countries, causing huge economic and trade losses.
“It is not too much to say that the habit of tolerating endless delay is one of the major causes of poverty,” said the President. He added that it is time for Africa to live up to its potential.