njuguna ndung ’ u : enhancing the cross border payments system across the east african community remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the official launch of the east african payments system ( eaps ), nairobi, 16 may 2014. * * * dr. enos bukuku, deputy secretary general, east african community ; ms. mwanamaka a. mabruki, principal secretary, ministry of the east african affairs, commerce and tourism ; fellow governors : prof. benno ndulu, governor, bank of tanzania ; hon. john rwangombwa, governor, national bank of rwanda ; mr. jean ciza, governor, bank of the republic of burundi ; dr. louis kasekende, deputy governor, bank of uganda ; distinguished guests and colleagues ; ladies and gentlemen : on behalf of my fellow governors from the eac central banks, it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the launch of the east african payments system ( eaps ). the eaps, which went live on monday 25th november 2013, is a cross border payment initiative by the eac central banks and the eac secretariat, working closely with commercial banks in the region. it is part of the east africa ’ s payments modernization efforts to enhance cross border payments system across the eac region. the system currently integrates with the respective real time gross settlement ( rtgs ) systems of kenya, uganda and tanzania that utilize the internationally recognized swift messaging network for safe and secure delivery of payment and settlement messages. it sends and receives cross border payments in the region ’ s currencies that is kenya shilling ( ksh ), tanzania shillings ( tzs ) and uganda shilling ( ugx ) from any of the commercial banks in the three east african countries on a real time basis for the region ’ s business community. eaps will therefore enable the public to pay as well as receive payments on real time basis. as such, its implementation will address deficiencies in the current cross - border payment methods, through enhanced efficiency and risk controls. all the commercial banks in kenya, tanzania and uganda are participants in the system. commercial banks in rwanda and burundi are expected to join later in the year. with respect to regional trade, the system is expected to promote, facilitate and support trade within the eac region. in this regard, eaps has many benefits, they include : • real time

responses at national and eu level, these measures have been successful in stabilising financial markets and protecting credit supply. the additional quantitative easing provided by the pepp programme also eases the overall monetary stance, acting to reduce economic slack and boost inflation dynamics over the medium term. chart 4 ecb measures since the start of the pandemic https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / press / key / date / 2020 / html / ecb. sp201006 ~ e1d38a1ccc. en. html 4 / 12 07 / 10 / 2020 the ecb ’ s monetary policy in the pandemic : meeting the challenge source : ecb staff. notes : * the interest rates on the lending programmes are linked to the key ecb interest rates. the lending performance https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / press / key / date / 2020 / html / ecb. sp201006 ~ e1d38a1ccc. en. html 5 / 12 07 / 10 / 2020 the ecb ’ s monetary policy in the pandemic : meeting the challenge for the temporary rate reduction of tltros is targeted towards the pandemic period. the ecb reconfirmed its forward guidance on the path of policy interest rates and the app throughout this period. with the launch of the pepp, our range of monetary policy measures currently consists of four main instruments : ( a ) the setting of our policy rates ( with the deposit facility rate as the primary current margin ) ; ( b ) the baseline asset purchase programme ( app ) ; ( c ) the pandemic - specific temporary asset purchase programme ( pepp ) ; and ( d ) the tltro iii programme. our forward guidance about the future setting of our policy measures plays a central role in determining our overall monetary stance. in relation to our policy rates, our current forward guidance links future ratesetting to the inflation outlook ; in turn, net purchases and reinvestment under the app are linked to the rate path. the temporary nature of the pepp means that the forward guidance is connected to the pandemic : net asset purchases will continue until at least the end of june 2021 and, in any case, until the governing council judges that the coronavirus crisis phase is over ; reinvestment will be maintained until at least the end of 2022 and, in any case, the future roll - off of the pepp portfolio will