This was the major outcome of the meeting of legal and finance experts of member countries which ended in Yaounde Tuesday March 1, 2011.

Financial and legal experts from member countries of the African Monetary Fund (AMF) have validated the institution’s draft statutes and its annexes and polishing work is ongoing on the document to be examined next by Ministers of Justice of the continent when they meet in Addis Ababa from 16-22 March, 2011. The validated document is fruit of two days of concertation at the Yaounde Conference Centre after the December 2010 Yaounde meeting of Ministers of Economy and Finance failed to reach a consensus on the legal document, notably article 7 on the authorised share capital of the Fund.

Originally, the article had five scenarios, notably that the authorised share capital of the Fund shall be 22.64 billion US dollars, divided into shares of 100 US dollars each, the callable share capital to be at least 50 per cent of the authorised share capital and the minimum paid-up share capital to be at least 50 per cent of the callable share capital. Also, the Board of Governors shall determine, after every five years, the allocation among the various capital shares of the Fund as well as the resources of the Fund to be domiciled at the African Development Bank or any other institution approved by the board pending the functioning of the African Central Bank. The just-ended expert’s meeting scaled down the scenarios to two: That the authorised share capital of the Fund shall be 22.64 billion US dollars and consideration shall be made on the population and Gross Domestic Product of member countries as well as their reserves.

Like the Secretary General in Cameroon’s Ministry of Finance, Jean Tchoffo, the Director of Economic Affairs at the African Union Commission, Dr Rene Kouassi, sounded upbeat with the decision, describing it as a milestone in the effective putting in place of the Fund. “After this meeting I am more optimistic. I think we have done a good job and what we have achieved is very crucial for the putting in place of this Fund which is beneficial to the whole continent”, Mr Kouassi said. “The ball is now in the court of leaders to sign and ratify the document as soon as possible so that member States can pay in their contributions to render the Fund operational. But according to our text also, the host country has to provide the headquarters of the Fund. We pray that Cameroon fast-tracts the building of the headquarters”, he added.

After the Ministers of Justice of member countries examine the document and give it the legal touch it deserves, it will be forwarded to Economy and Finance Ministers when they meet in Addis Ababa from 24-29 March. After this, attention will be focused on the Heads of State and government for final approval during their meeting in Malabo in July, 2011.