BRI report finds uneven progress and different motivations in adopting African CBDCs

Survey of Mainland Central Banks Shows Optimism for Greater Efficiency and Inclusion, But Several Drawbacks Remain; Nigeria already has an operational retail CBDC.

Mobile money is a strong competitor to central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Africa, but many central bankers on the continent trust CBDC more, according to a report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) ) published on November 24. central bankers also saw greater utility in the CBDC for monetary policy implementation than bankers in other parts of the world, according to the BIS.

Nineteen African central banks responded to the survey that formed the basis of the report, and all said they were actively interested in the CBDC. Only Nigeria has issued a retail CBDC, eNaira, for public use, while Ghana has a retail CBDC project in pilot phase, and South Africa is currently running a wholesale CBDC project, intended for institutional use.

A new survey of 19 African central banks shows that the main concern with #CBDCs is cybersecurity, even more so than elsewhere. The high operational burden for the central bank is also a bigger concern than in other regions https://t.co/FzkCq5POOD pic.twitter.com/XqYHjRwyRv

The provision of cash was cited by African central bankers as a major motivation for introducing a CBDC for 48%...