The launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency in Nigeria in November 2021 has become a boost towards adopting Crypto currency in other African countries. Nigeria has become both the pace setter and test ground for other African countries to examine and adopt same in their countries. A significant number of other African countries has shown significant plans towards adopting their own Central Bank Digital Currency.
Topping the list towards adopting a Central Bank Digital Currency is the South African country. Recall that in September last year, the central bank of South Africa partnered with the Singaporean, Malaysian, and Australian central banks to test the interoperability of cryptocurrencies in cross-border payments, in a major push to mainstream digital currencies in Africa as legal tender. However, it is not clear when or whether South Africa will formally introduce a digital currency but there are signs the government is taking it seriously, especially after the Nigerian launch. There are some insider reports that the South African government will likely unveil it's own digital currency this new year.
Similarly, the Tanzanian government has announced last month in December 2021, that she is currently preparing to unveil its own digital cash to slash transaction costs and boost citizens participation in the formal financial system.
More so, the fastest growing African country Kenya had always remained opened to innovations. Thus, just last month, Kenyas central bank governor Patrick Njoroge revealed that the regulator is also exploring the use of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to settle cross-border payments. According to the CBN Governor, “We see the benefits would be more cross border…” To this end, he explained that: “the issue is not to be first, the issue is to do it right,” This suggests that Kenyan is not in a rush to adopt her own CBDC without proper planning.
The Ghanian government too has revealed that they are not opposed to Central Bank Digital Currency. This suggests that the country is already making moves towards creating their own Central Bank Digital Currency.
At, present it is expected that many other African countries will soon make official statements towards adopting their own Central Bank Digital Currency and possibly give a future date for this.
It is therefore very clear that blockchain technology will soon replace the traditional local currency in the future given the increasing embrace of digital currency across the globe especially spearheaded by the African continent.
