Intra-Africa trade remains low at 13 percent compared other regions of the world. One of the factors hindering trade is reliance on third currencies - US dollars, Euros and the British Pound - for the clearing and settlement of cross-border payments and transactions, which in turn leads to high costs and long transaction times.
Just recently, on his State visit to Kenya, President Hakainde Hichilema captured the impact of this obstacle aptly.
