Central Bank of Ghana to launch pilot test for CBDC in September
The program will facilitate the transformation of the country because it would be promoting financial inclusion and competitiveness in the financial sector
The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana (BoG), Maxwell Opoku-Afari, reported that the institution will undertake, in September this year, a pilot program for the ‘digital cedi’, the country’s official currency. The announcement was made as part of a meeting on understanding monetary policy in a post-pandemic era.
According to Opoku-Afari, the digital currency project is part of the financial entity’s recognition of the need for digital payments and the digitization of financial services.
It is estimated that the CBDC program will facilitate the transformation of the country. In the opinion of the lieutenant governor, “a digital currency could promote financial inclusion, the efficiency and stability of the payment system, as well as encourage competitiveness in the financial sector.”
It is of great importance, for the institutional representative, that the digital currency has all the security mechanisms and hence the need to carry out a pilot test, called “sandbox”, which allows exercising and reviewing the processes before offering it to the public.
Opoku-Afari was emphatic in stating that “digital cedi would be seen as a fiat currency that could be used by financial services and fintechs to add value to digital money.”
Cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Ghana, but digital currency efforts show that the country’s financial institution is seeing the need to digitize the financial system.
It should be mentioned that in May of this year the country’s regulators made a statement stating that cryptocurrencies “are illegal in the country and are not regulated” by the Commission.
M. Rodríguez
Source: diariobitcoin.com
