STATEMENT ON CHANGES TO ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT) PAYMENTS IN THE COMMON MONETARY AREA (CMA)

[Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr.]

5 September, 2024

STATEMENT ON CHANGES TO ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT) PAYMENTS IN 

THE COMMON MONETARY AREA (CMA)

EcowaSadcSynergies (ESS) has been copied in a correspondence by advocacy-based organisation, Section 2, regarding an issue that seeks to potentially disturb the regional integration process within the Common Monetary Area, which is populated by South Africa; Namibia; Lesotho; and Eswatini, and has been running for decades.

Entitled “Section 2 STATEMENT ON CHANGES TO ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT) PAYMENTS IN THE COMMON MONETARY AREA (CMA)”, the statement expresses  “deep concern over the decision” by the CMA “regulators to discontinue the processing of low- value Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) within three CMA, effective 9 September 2024.”

At a time that the continent is experiencing somewhat of a Zeitgeist with the onset of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), ESS notes with serious concern that the decision to repeal the treatment of cross-border transactions as domestic ones can only go to disrupt the CMA’s regional integration process, and cause considerable distress to the SME owners and citizens operating under the CMA.

ESS offers its full support behind Section 2's statement of 3 September; and makes 3 (three) key recommendations to help manage the decision: 

1. All member States party to the AfCFTA that are also members of the CMA zone must consider calling on the respective Central Banks of South Africa; Namibia; Lesotho and Eswatini to strongly-consider joining the Pan-African Payment Settlement Systems (PAPSS) so as to continue enjoying SWIFT-free cross-border transactions

2. Consumer protection agencies and Chambers of Commerce within the CMA countries must immediately-convene emergency meetings to assess the impact of recent decisions on citizens and businesses operating in the CMA zone

3. Member States of the CMA zone must immediately-engage the SADC Secretariat to help establish a consumer protection agency for the SADC/SACU/CMA regions. COMESA is one of the African RECs touted world-wide as having significant best practice in this respect. COMESA's Competition Commission offers much best practice worthy of emulation.

For EcowaSadcSynergies’ part, if it is true that PAPSS remains one of the operational successes of trading under AfCFTA, then it remains true that PAPSS must undertake consistent sensitization of its products to help enhance ECOWAS-SADC synergies for AfCFTA operationalisation;and the continuous deepening of regional integration consistent with the seven aspirations of Agenda 2063.

Done in Accra,

5 September, 2024

@ekbensah 

You can view a summary of this development in CMA on #AfricainfocusTV on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_icm9DC_wx/?igsh=MTFxbGozdWUyanBsMw==

ABOUT EcowaSadcSynergies

Established in 2019, EcowaSadcSynergies is a media project borne out of media expertise covering ECOWAS & SADC regions and their institutions. 

While it is a sister initiative of East Africa Rising, objectives have changed post-covid to be more explicit in the following objectives:

1. promote *Ghana-Malawi, Ghana-Zambia; Ghana-Mozambique relations* for AfCFTA ecosystem. 

2. awareness-raising on *African Risk Capacity* & African Commodity Strategy

*ENDS*

[Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr.]

Thanks for your comment and feedback Tieke.

We cannot develop the continent collectively when we are clamping down on Africa's Integration in.certain parts.

We need to continue fighting the dying of the light.

We cannot have an AfCFTA seeking to change the continent's fortunes and have a part of the continent pretending it.doesnt know it exists.

Remittances alone are huge on the continent. Will imposition of SWIFT not make it more difficult to the CMA zone to manage businesses, including send remittances to families?

Why make things more difficult when there are solutions through systems like PAPSS, which AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene himself has wondered why South Africa has not joined?  

Countries like Kenya are onboarding; as is Tunisia. Djibouti is active on PAPSS. So is Zimbabwe.

The continent is waking up to possibilities, so where is this new move by regulators of the Common Monetary Area coming from?

Let's continue to throw sunlight on this!

Kind regards,

EK

On Fri, 6 Sept 2024, 03:45 Tiekie Barnard, <tie...@shiftimpact.africa> wrote:

We fully support the deep concerns of ECOWASADC. The impact will be enormous on those that are already financially marginalised. Please do let us know how we can raise awareness of this challenge that will affect so many

 

Tiekie Barnard Founder & CEO

Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) & Shift Impact Africa T  +27 11 880-2948  |  C +27 82 44 55274  www.SVAI.africa   |  www.shiftimpact.africa

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