The secretariat of the East African Community (EAC) regional bloc has rejected a post on X, previously known as Twitter, that claimed the member countries of the bloc had introduced a common regional currency.
The post was shared on Sunday by a fake X account called Government of East Africa.
The account stated that the currency was named the East African Sheafra, which was a mix of the shillings of East Africa and the Franc.
Additionally, the account posted an image of a counterfeit banknote of the alleged single currency.
The post has garnered over half a million views and was shared by some prominent media outlets and online personalities in the region.
The EAC secretariat refuted the announcement of a unified regional currency late on Sunday, clarifying that the development of a single East African currency is still a work in progress.
“Kindly ignore any rumours circulating in social media on the unveiling of new banknotes for the region.”
In 2013, member countries of the East African Community (EAC) aimed to establish a single currency by 2024.
However, the bloc did not meet this goal and has now postponed the introduction of the single regional currency to 2031.
