History of COMESA Monetary Institute

The Thirteenth Summit of the COMESA Authority of Heads of State and Government and the COMESA Council of Ministers held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in June 2009, decided to establish the COMESA Monetary Institute following a recommendation of the Thirteenth Meeting of the Committee of Central Bank Governors, held in Cairo, Egypt in 2008.

Membership
The following are member Central Banks who have signed the charter of CMI:  Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Mandates of the Institute
The specific policy oriented mandates of the CMI, as decided by the COMESA Committee of Governors of Central Banks, are as follows:

1. Design of an appropriate Monetary Policy Framework;
2. Design of an appropriate Exchange Rate Mechanism;
3. Follow up on the implementation of the COMESA Financial System Development and Stability Plan;
4. Follow up on the implementation of the COMESA Framework for the Assessment of  Financial System Stability in member countries;
5. Follow up on the implementation of the COMESA Multilateral Fiscal Surveillance
6. Harmonization of concepts, methodologies and statistical frameworks for reporting  macroeconomic data by member countries
7. Undertake sensitization programmes;
8. Paving the ground for the setting up of the COMESA Central Bank which will, inter alia, be responsible for the printing and distribution of a single currency;
9. Undertake economic research and provide technical assistance and capacity building support to National Central Banks.

Organs of the COMESA Monetary Institute
The Institute is made up of the following organs:

1. Committee of Governors of Central Banks
2. Bureau of the COMESA Committee of Governors of Central Banks
3. Committee on Finance and Monetary Affairs
4. Secretariat of the Institute

Priority Areas for CMI
The following are five priority areas for CMI intervention in the medium term:

1. Implementation of the COMESA Multilateral Fiscal Surveillance Framework in order to achieve enhanced Macroeconomic convergence in the region,
2. Harmonization of reporting of macroeconomic data by member countries;
3. Implementation of the COMESA Financial Sector Development and Stability Plan and the Assessment Framework for Financial System Stability
4. Capacity building of member states in the area of macroeconomic management