Common Currency: Dr. Bawumia urges African countries to shift towards MoMo interoperability

The Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has called for a shift in policy direction by African Central Banks from the creation of a common currency to mobile money interoperability.

In a speech delivered on the opening day of the APN Continental Mobile Interoperability Symposium in Accra on Friday, July 5, 2024, Dr. Bawumia urged African countries to focus on creating the digital infrastructure necessary for mobile money interoperability to thrive.

He asserted that although the idea of a common currency is commendable, the advent of technology has rendered it obsolete and that African central banks should now embrace the digitalisation drive and work to improve mobile money interoperability.

“The idea of a common currency, which originated in 1963, has really been overtaken by the digital payment age. Today, you can think about mobile money as a common currency. If we make it interoperable, we don’t need to have a common currency before we get the benefits.”

“Making mobile money interoperable allows our citizens across the continent to trade seamlessly, and so this is where I believe African countries need to focus. One of the common problems in achieving a common currency was the difficulty of our respective countries in achieving macro-economic convergence,” he added.

“I believe that if we are serious about it, we can work towards mobile money interoperability at the continental stage and, therefore, we should move away from the macro-economic convergence criteria to digital payment convergence criteria,” Bawumia stated.

Speaking at the seminar, themed “Scaling Up Interoperability: Using Mobile Money to Buy & Sell Across Africa,” the governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison, commended the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) for creating the platform for the exchange of knowledge and expertise on improving Africa’s financial space.

Dr. Ernest Addison explained that seminars like this create a platform for policymakers and decision-makers to garner knowledge and make informed decisions that culminate in the growth of the economy.

“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the organizers of this symposium for their dedication to the launch of this initiative.

“Your commitment to fostering collaboration and innovation in this crucial area is commendable. Allow me to also add that the initiative to scale up cross-border payment interoperability aligns with the broader financial digitisation and inclusion agenda of the BoG,” Addison added.

The forum is being organised by the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), organisers of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), in collaboration with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).



EK/ ADG