The Secretariat of the East African Community (EAC) regional bloc has rejected a post on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that the bloc’s member states have adopted a common regional currency.
This post was shared on Sunday by a fake X account called “East African Government”.
According to accounts, the currency was called the East African Shefra, a combination of the East African shilling and franc.
The account also shared an image of fake banknotes that are said to be a single currency.
This post earned him over 500,000 views and was shared by several major media outlets and online celebrities in the region.
The EAC Secretariat late on Sunday rejected the report on a single regional currency, saying the creation of a single currency for East Africa was “still a work in progress”.
“Please ignore all rumours circulating on social media about the introduction of new banknotes in the region.”
In 2013, EAC member states set a goal of creating a single currency by 2024.
The bloc failed to meet its goal and postponed the delivery of a single regional currency to 2031.