Is Tarek Amer calling for an African version of the ECB? CBE Governor Tarek Amer spoke on the benefits of African nations further integrating their economies, going so far as to call for a unified monetary policy for the continent. Speaking with CNBC Africa on the sidelines of last week’s African Development Bank Annual Meetings in Malabo, Amer said that uniform monetary policy is a key prerequisite to integrating Africa’s economies in addition to unified trade policy standards and guidelines. “We are working [at the Association of African Central Banks (AACB)] toward a unified central bank and currency, in years to come.” Until this happens, African central bankers can do more to start better coordinating their policy decisions, he noted.

Central bank independence is still crucial: Central banks on the continent still need to be independent in order to set proper foreign exchange systems, an aspect indispensable to successful global trade and international contracting “because people want to be paid back in their currency,” he noted.

You can catch the rest of the interview, where Amer espouses the benefits of trade reform in the continent, here (watch, runtime: 6:18).