The secretariat of the East African Community (EAC) regional bloc has refuted a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, asserting that member countries of the bloc have introduced a shared regional currency.
The misleading post was disseminated on Sunday through a fictitious X account named “Government of East Africa.”
The spurious account claimed that the currency, named the East African Sheafra, was a fusion of the shilling of East Africa and Franc. Alongside this information, a counterfeit banknote representing the alleged single currency was shared.
Despite the post garnering over half a million views and being circulated by prominent media outlets and online personalities in the region, the EAC secretariat dismissed the claim of a unified regional currency on Sunday.
The secretariat clarified that the development of a single East African currency is “still a work in progress” and urged the public to disregard any rumors circulating on social media regarding the unveiling of new banknotes for the region.
It is worth noting that in 2013, member countries of the EAC had set a goal for a single currency by 2024.
However, the bloc missed this target and subsequently extended the timeline for the implementation of the single regional currency to 2031.
