Trade in your own currencies, Blackman tells Africa, Caribbean

Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Chad Blackman has proposed that African and Caribbean nations trade among themselves using their own currencies.

This could prepare the region for the possibility of the US dollar and the euro losing their dominance in another 10 to 15 years, he told an Africa-Caribbean business forum in Nassau, Bahamas.

His call comes amid plans by CARICOM nations to pilot a payment system for intra-regional trade using each other’s currencies instead of the US dollar, modelled after a scheme among 10 central banks in Africa that is spearheaded by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

“For a long time, we’ve held the view that in order for us to trade, we must trade only in the US dollar on the Euro or in the pound. And whilst this is a potentially controversial view, I think . . . we also must look at trading amongst ourselves in our currencies,” Blackman said, noting that this “lends credibility to those markets where the currencies are”.

He continued: “When you look at the current geopolitical shifts taking place in the world, I’m no prophet, but I believe within the next 10 to 15 years, a number of the currencies that we’re now looking to, may not be in the same position that they are today.”

The minister made the comments at a panel discussion on Managing Macroeconomic Crises: Some Lessons from Africa and the Caribbean on the opening day of the 31st Afreximbank annual meetings, being held for the first time in the Caribbean, coinciding with the third AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2024) at the Baha Mar Convention Centre.

“So the question is, how do we prepare ourselves for that eventuality and that shift which will take place? The fact is, a lot of our currencies are pegged to the dollar, for example. So conversations must now be had not 0just at the domestic level but also between the Caribbean and Africa, looking at perhaps a basket of currencies that we should actually start to look at that can anchor or monetary policies.”

Blackman also took the opportunity to call for a continued look at the reform of the international financial architecture.

He further contended that the time had come for Africa and the Caribbean to look to credit rating agencies created by the global south, noting that “the credit rating agencies that we all look to in the world as we speak were not created by us or in our image”.