SECTION 41

Currency, Finance and Payments 1. Member States shall harmonize their monetary, financial and payments policies in order to create confidence in their respective currencies, to ensure the proper functioning of the Community, to further the achievement of the aims and to improve monetary and financial cooperation between them and the other African countries. 2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, the Secretary-General acting in liaison with the sub-regional committees concerned of the Association of African Central Banks shall: a) make recommendations to the Council on the harmonization of the economic and financial policies of Member States; b) give continuous attention to the balance-of-payments problems of Member States and undertake any studies relating thereto; c) study the development of the economies of Member States; d) make recommendations to the Council on the establishment, in the short term, of bilateral systems for the settlement of payments between Member States and, in the long term, of a multilateral system for the settlement of such payments and the establishment of a monetary union. 3. In accordance with the Protocol on the Clearing House attached hereto as Annex VIII, Member States shall boost intra-Community trade in goods and services through a clearing house.