EAC central bankers warn of severer impact of financial crisis

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

DAR ES SALAAM, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Central bank governors from Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda have cautioned that severer impact of the global financial
crisis would be felt by East Africa that had minimum impact from the first-round
effects.

The warning was sounded when the central bank governors met on Wednesday in
Arusha of northern Tanzania to discuss ways to deal with the ongoing financial
crisis and its yet-to-be-felt adverse impact on the region.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are member states of the East African Community
(EAC) which also includes Burundi and Rwanda.

The central bank governors made it clear in their papers delivered to a
special one-day economic crisis conference that 2009 would be the toughest year
for the region, according to reports reaching here on Thursday.

"As the global economy sinks into depression," said Bank of Tanzania
Governor Benno Ndulu, "prices of key export commodities are bound to fall
further as consumer demand in advanced countries continue to decline."

The central bank governors met just ahead of a scheduled continental
conference for finance ministers and central bank governors to be held in Dar es
Salaam later this month. The conference, co-organized by the International
Monetary Fund and the government of Tanzania, is to discuss the global financial
crisis and its impact on Africa.