Ghana’s Central Bank could soon introduce a digital currency – the e-cedi. Speaking at an annual banking conference this week, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Ernest Addison announced that the bank is in talks to explore the future of digital currency.
He said, “The Bank is also in discussion with key stakeholders to explore a pilot project on central bank digital currency with the possibility of issuing an e-cedi in the near future”.
“The digital age provides enormous potential for the financial sector to re-orient itself to satisfy the new consumer and business demands for financial services.” According to Addison, the potential for growth is evident; “mobile money transaction volumes increased from 982 million to 1.4 billion between 2017 and 2018”.
Techweez reports that this is an “unprecedented move by a central bank. Central banks have been notorious at the rise of ‘digital currency’, especially of the blockchain nature since they render them useless. Other forms of digital money like mobile money have led to the governments being behind on legislation and having to play catch up”.
But it would seem that Ghana’s Central Bank is interested in being a trendsetter – not only on the continent but throughout the world. “The digital age provides enormous potential for the financial sector to re-orientate itself to satisfy the new consumer and business demands for financial services,” Addison concludes.
Edited by Jenna Delport
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