eCedi to boost financial inclusion particularly in rural areas – Dr. Opoku Afari

First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Maxwell Opoku Afari is optimistic that the roll out of the electronic Cedi (eCedi) for Ghana will boost financial inclusion especially in rural areas.

According to him, the implementation of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will help create a transaction history that commercial players can also use.

Speaking at the Payments Canada Summit 2023, Dr Opoku Afari said central banks must remember that the CBDC is a currency first and foremost, not a wallet for channel with a human-centered design.

He added the design must be within a country's context with the user-process being resource intensive.

The first deputy Central Bank Governor further stressed on the importance of the CBDC implementation in some African countries and its potential impact on the economy and fintech development.

“Nigeria went straight to CBDC implementation. And I love them for doing that - but we can't do that. Any currency has to work for all Ghanaians, no matter where they are located. And, while Ghana has seen the percentage of people with formal bank accounts soar in the last decade, nearly a third of the population is still unbanked.”

He concluded that the Bank of Ghana’s cash lite agenda will continue to be an ongoing effort aimed at implementing the Central Bank Digital Currency in a well conducted manner.

In 2022, Ghana began piloting a retail central bank digital currency, exploring both an online and an offline version of the eCedi.

The eCedi project carried pilots in three locations; Accra, Tarkwa and Sefwi Asafo while the first two locations explored several use cases for online payments and Sefwi Asafo saw the offline experiment.

MA/FNOQ