Ghana’s vice president says Africa should accept digital currency

Ghana’s Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia believes that African governments must undertake digital currencies to facilitate trade throughout the continent.

As reported by Ghanaweb, Bawumia argued on the fifth Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference as regards to “Trade Facilitation and Trade Finance in AfCFTA; Role of the monetary providers sector. He argued that trade between African international locations requires a “unified central payment system”. Currently, the transport of products throughout African borders may be very costly and takes a very long time. Dr. Bawumia believes {that a} digital fee system will overcome these issues.

Related: Can blockchain make a distinction? Africa sees monumental financial potential

Dr. Bawumia mentioned: “Digitization has additionally turn out to be some of the momentous insurance policies of the Nana Akufo-Addo authorities.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit many economies and forced partial and complete shutdowns, this increased the need to advance digitization.”

The Vice President additionally mentioned the newest Ghanaian fee initiatives, such because the interoperability of cell cash. Dr. Bawumia famous that these providers have proven “that more people can be financially inclusive and that this needs to be rolled out across Africa to ensure the development of the AfCFTA vision”.

Related: Tanzania’s president urges the central financial institution to organize for cryptocurrencies

Earlier this yr, the Central Bank of Ghana (BoG) introduced that it had a central financial institution digital currency (CBDC) below growth. Dr. Bawumia acknowledges the financial institution’s intentions and believes it should add credibility to the nation in digital house.

African international locations have lengthy been researching cryptocurrencies and different types of digital currency. Nigeria is planning its personal CBDC known as GIANT, as a result of launch this October, even after its central financial institution banned monetary establishments from collaborating with cryptocurrency exchanges. Tanzania, the nation that banned cryptocurrencies in 2019, plans to reverse its course of and introduce aggressive regulation of cryptocurrencies after its president Samia Suluhu Hassan spoke about bitcoin.