Fake currency unity purported to be of the East African Community. (-)

The East African Community has denied issuing a single currency unit for the region following the circulation of a fake banknote named Sheafra, purported to have been approved by the bloc.

EAC Secretariat informed its partner states on Monday that it did not issue such currency for the region, adding that plans for the trade bloc to adopt a common currency is still a work in progress.

“The EAC Secretariat wishes to inform all our stakeholders that the Partner States’ journey to a single currency is still a work in progress. Kindly ignore any rumors circulating in social media on the unveiling of new banknotes for the region,” the bloc said.

This follows the discovering online of a fake 5 East African Sheafra banknote purportedly issued by a non-existing Bank of East Africa.

The East African Community, currently headed by President Salva Kiir is an eight-nation bloc comprising Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Somalia.

The bloc said, in 2020, it was in the process of harmonizing critical policies and putting in place the requisite institutions to attain a single currency for the region by 2024 as outlined in the EAC Monetary Union Protocol.

Former EAC Secretary General, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko, said a bill for the establishment of the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI) had already been assented to by the Summit of Heads of State.

He added that the EAMI would later be transformed into the East African Central Bank that would issue the single currency.