African Single Currency: Akwamuman chief highlights role of traditional rulers

Paramount Chief of Akwamuman, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, has stated the importance of traditional leaders in the implementation process of a single trade currency for Africa.

He stated that traditional leaders significantly shaped the growth of international trade in Africa.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto II was speaking as a guest of honour at the 7th Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC), stating the role of Chieftaincy Institution in matters of Continental and Global Finance and Monetary architecture, Global Debt Crisis, the Continental Free Trade Area and Intra-African Trade.

"Historically traditional rulers played an important role in shaping the development of cross-border trade in Africa. Africans lived with it during the colonial era, for example, you will often be responsible for regulating treaties and collecting tasks on behalf of the administration all the time. We also played a role in maintaining peace and stability along trade routes as they have the authority to negotiate treaties and resolve conflicts between defined goods," he stated.

Despite the economic constraints, he noted that public-private cooperation was necessary to unlock the nation's potential for prosperity.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto II also highlighted some bottlenecks that needed to be addressed to achieve the single currency goal in the continent.

"As we have seen in recent years, many African countries have been hit hard by economic shocks, such as commodity price fluctuations, currency devaluations external debt crisis, and more recently, global economic crisis triggered by COVID-19," he said.

The 7th Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC) 2023 mounted a spirited advocacy on Policy formulators and implementers to re-look at the prospects of a SINGLE TRADE CURRENCY and thereafter focus on the role played by financial institutions in Africa in achieving a single continental currency.

The conference sought to put development issues in the context of the optimum currency area in order to determine the extent a common currency will be beneficial for the African continent.

The traditional ruler thus called on stakeholders to speed up the process of a trade currency across the continent considering the level of economic development and the diversity of the African economic landscape, working towards a convertible truth currency supported by Africa.

This, he said, "will also help to reduce the dependence of African countries on foreign currencies such as the US dollar, or the euro."

FNOQ