Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the report “The Rise of Central Bank Digital Money”. The report shows that 2/3 of African countries have not yet studied Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) . in view of the weak financial foundation of African countries, ACU has launched the Cross-Border Support Program, which will provide financial technology support to African countries.
According to IMF statistics, as of July this year, there are about 97 countries that are in the CBDC research or development stage. Of the 97 countries, two countries launched CBDCs: Nigeria in October 2021 launched the electronic Naira (eNaira), and the Bahamas in October 2020 launched the sand money (Sand Dollar).
In addition, 15 countries, including China, Russia and France, have CBDCs in the pilot phase, 15 countries have CBDCs in the proof-of-concept phase, and 65 countries, including the United States, have CBDCs in the research and development phase.
According to the IMF statistical chart, less than 1/3 of the 54 countries in Africa have explored CBDC, and most are in the research stage. Of the 13 countries that have been studied, Nigeria has formally launched eNaira, and is one of only two countries in the world to have launched CBDC. In addition, CBDCs in South Africa and Ghana are in the experimental stage, while those in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Madagascar are in the research stage.
From the research it is clear that CBDC research in African countries lags behind other regions of the world. The special natural environment in Africa, coupled with the long-standing political turmoil and other factors has caused African countries to lag behind economically, especially in today’s rapid development of fintech and global market turmoil. African economies are even worse, and fintech development is even more difficult.
In response to the lagging development of financial technology in African countries, ACU has launched the Cross-Border Support Program, which will help African countries in applying CBDCs , improving financial services, and improving the economic situation.
In the program, ACU will assist central banks in issuing CBDC, and will directly open the exchange channel between CBDC and AET and ACU to realize the global circulation of CBDC in the country. At the same time, ACU will assist the central banks of each country to strengthen their knowledge and technical levels, improve the national identity verification systems, better implement KYC authentication, strengthen data privacy management, address potential cyber attacks and financial integrity issues, and ensure system security and financial integrity.
Currently, ACU has a long history of development in Southeast Asia and Africa. ACU will take advantage of its own strengths to directly connect the CBDCs of those countries to the applications that have already landed, to quickly realize the interoperability of CBDCs between African countries, and to gradually expand the scope of application to realize the globalization of CBDC in those countries. In addition to providing “hardware” support, ACU will share its rich experience in e-money, blockchain and meta-border with the governments of the assisting countries without any reservation, and invest extensive resources such as customer base, talents and volunteers to build international communication channels for the cooperating governments and improve the international image and economic situation of African countries.
In the report, the IMF also mentioned that CBDCs may have many potential benefits, but there are many risks that central banks need to consider when issuing CBDCs. As a leading global fintech company, ACU can provide full support to central banks in the development of CBDCs, offering a complete solution. Since 2022, countries such as Angola, Zambia and Madagascar have joined ACU’s Cross-Border Support Program, and ACU will continue to provide help and support to countries in need.
