The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, on Wednesday urged governors of African Central Banks to improve economic indicators.

Sanusi’s call followed the move by the Association of African Central Banks to set up an African Central Bank that would help to ensure that the region’s economies return to the path of sustainable growth.

The apex bank boss, who said this during his opening remarks at the first ordinary meeting of AACB, noted that the move would help to facilitate convergence in the region.

Already, a study group had been constituted to work on a joint African Union Commission-AACB strategy for the establishment of the African Central Bank.

The working group is made up of five experts from the AUC as well as another five members to be drawn from the five sub-regions in the continent.

The regions are West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, Central Africa and South Africa.

The meeting, which was chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank of Malawi, Dr Perks Ligoya, was attended by all members of the bureau as well as those of the African Union Commission

Sanusi said that despite the roadmap that was established by the monetary union for a common single currency, many countries in 2011 failed to meet the convergence criteria.

He said, “The number of member countries that met the prescribed targets fell for all primary criteria, except the criterion on financing of the budget deficit by the Central Bank.

“Public finance continued to deteriorate generally and the public deficit criterion was met by six countries against seven in the first half of 2010. On the back of increases in food and energy prices at the international market, only seven countries met the criterion on inflation against eleven during the same period of 2010.”

Source: Punch/Ifeanyi Onuba