Nairobi — Increasing integration of Africa's economy into that of the world and competition for resources to spur growth is pushing African central banks towards an involuntary policy convergence, seen mainly in an emerging pattern of identical monetary policies.

Economic analysts say as pressure piles on African governments to improve living conditions of their poor populations, central banks are becoming key focus points for formulating strategies that can boost domestic investment and at the same time pull foreign investor inflows.

A common thread of the emerging policy convergence, the experts say, is a tendency to gradually adopt similar macro economic stands -- a key example being last month's decision by Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Mauritius to hold interest rates in what was seen as an effort to put a lid on warming inflation rates. Observers have singled out the intensifying competition for foreign investor dollars and the need to meet private sector expectations as a major motivation for the policy transparency and macroeconomic stability drive.

"The shared desire to create a stable environment has resulted in a sense of convergence in policy," says Jared Osoro, bank economist at the East African Development Bank.

"But that convergence does not imply that policy decisions, especially monetary policy, are coordinated; they are dictated by circumstances specific to each economy."

According to the UNCTAD world investment report 2009, foreign direct inflows to Africa peaked at $88 billion (about Sh6.6 trillion) last year following six years of uninterrupted growth on the continent. The report estimates Kenya's share of this pie to be $2.1 billion (about Sh150 billion) in both cash invested at the stock market and new investments flowing to the real sector. Debate on Africa's competitiveness as an investment destination has historically focused on political stability and Treasury's role in allocating resources to develop infrastructure.

But challenges posed by a globalised economy--such as the world global financial crises- are shifting the focus to policy makers' preparedness to cushion the economy from external shocks in times of widespread instability and maintain a stable growth trend. The US, Japan, China, and key European Union members have implemented identical stimulus plans to haul their economies out of the growth recession precipitated by last year's financial crisis, and African policy makers have readily taken the cue.