LUSAKA, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Malawian economists from various institutions cautioned the government not to rush in endorsing the idea of having a common currency in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region, local newspaper The Malawi Nation reported Thursday on its website.

    While interviewed by the newspaper on Wednesday, the economists said the idea was still a far cry since a lot of issues had to be cleared out before its implementation.

    SADC leaders who just concluded the two-day summit meeting in Gaborone, Botswana had a discussion on the possibility of having acommon currency within the bloc modeled on the euro, said the newspaper.

    Mabvuto Bamusi, deputy coordinator of Malawi Economic Justice Network, was cited by the newspaper as saying that the country needed to be extra cautious before signing such agreements becauseit might only benefit the well established economies of the regionlike South Africa and Botswana.

    He said Malawi needed to take necessary measures to make sure that the country would be able to compete effectively in monetary union should the common currency be adopted since it would result in an imbalance on goods and services within the region.

    Chancellor College head of economics Ephraim Chirwa said a common currency would benefit Malawi since it would help solve thecountry's problem of insufficient foreign exchange when importing goods from other countries like South Africa.

    But he quickly pointed out that whether it was the right time for the implementation was another question.

    "The benefits are there but it's the conditions for the implementation that are not there," said Chirwa. "There is a need for a fully integrated free trade in the region before we can be talking about having a common currency."

    He said at the moment countries in the region were not trading freely hence there was no way they could have a common currency.

    National Bank Marketing Manager Wilkins Mijiga shared the similar view as Chirwa, saying that adoption of a common currency might take quite long time as it would need the region to harmonize many issues like fiscal policy, monetary policy, taxation and labor movement.

    He cited euro as an example noting that the concept of euro wasfirst put forward early in 1958 but was adopted only till the year2002. Enditem