Rapid improvements in payment systems key driver for financial services – BoG

• Changes in the payments system structure is yielding results

• Mobile money has improved the efficiency of money transactions

• Transactional cost of digital payments have also improved

Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, has touted the rapid improvement in the payments system as a key driver

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According to him, the move has driven consumer demand for efficiency, convenience, and offered a lower cost of financial transactions.

Speaking at the ongoing Ghana Economic Forum in Accra on October 18, 2021, the BoG governor said digital payments have been on an uptrend with various governments joining in on the digitisation process.

“Most central banks are at various exploratory stages of developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), with the recognition of money as an important public good and whose stability needs to be protected,” he pointed.

“As you may be aware, the Bank of Ghana has already entered the space and piloting the CBDC, with broad stakeholder consultations on the project. This will eventually lead to the issuance of a digital currency, the E-Cedi, a safe and stable means of payments and settlements which would further advance financial inclusiveness, promote efficiency in the payment systems, and foster competition in the financial sector,” Dr Addison added.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s central bank has since 2019 been planning to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency with the announcement of a rollout in 2021.

The innovation which was expected to be piloted in September last month is however yet to commence though at an advanced stage.

CBDCs are digital forms of a jurisdiction’s legal currency and are designed to be available via smartphones.

These smart cards are physical cards embedded with a chip, similar to that of modern bank cards.