The Bank of Ghana has announced a partnership with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), a German finance company, to conduct a pilot for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country. According to the press release, the German firm will provide technical support to develop solutions for launching a future CBDC for Ghana.
In a first instance, the Bank of Ghana said that pilot would be tested in a trial phase with banks, payment gateway providers, merchants, consumers, “and other relevant stakeholders.” “To this end, the Bank of Ghana has signed an agreement with G+D to implement a pilot CBDC project as a precursor to the issuance of a digital form of the national currency, the Cedi. The project is part of the ‘Digital Ghana Agenda,’ which involves the digitization of the country of 30 million people and its government services,” the central bank noted.
Also, the e-Cedi – Ghana’s CBDC – is aimed to be a digital alternative to the fiat in the country, the Bank of Ghana pointed out. In addition, the central bank commented the following: “It also aims to facilitate Payments without a bank account, contract or smartphone, by so doing boosting the use of digital services and financial inclusion amongst all demographic groups.”
Three Phases for the Ghanaian CBDC
The Bank of Ghana expects to deploy the pilot in three phases: design, implementation, and pilot. The first one consists in defining the parameters for the CBDC pilot. The central bank said that the implementation would seek to fit the digital currency into the Ghanaian context, while the pilot phase will target specific user groups.
“CBDC presents a great opportunity to build a robust, inclusive, competitive and sustainable financial sector led by the Central Bank. From all indications, the concept has a significant role to play in the future of financial service delivery globally. This project is a significant step towards positioning Ghana to take full advantage of this emerging concept,” Dr Ernest K. Y. Addision, Governor of Bank of Ghana, added.
