Giesecke Devrient of Germany (GD) has been chosen by the Bank of Ghana for helping it out in the development of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). GD will make sure that the e-cedi digital currency runs its testing with the financial institutions of Ghana, vendors, payment service providers, and any other relevant network.
Ghana is working tirelessly in its objective to become the first African country to initiate the CBDC project in the continent. According to the recent statement of the Bank of Ghana’s (BOG’s) Governor, the CBDC project is almost ready and can be tested. He said that the developers who were working on the project are of the view that pilot testing can be carried out at any time. However, it requires the expertise of a fin-tech company equipped with the capability of pulling out the pilot testing with ease.
A tender seeking international firms were floated for finding the best expert from the field. Reportedly, there were a large number of international companies which took part in the tendering process. However, the successful company has been chosen from Europe, particularly Germany. It was apprised that the German-based fin-tech company called Giesecke Devrient (GD) has been offered the contract for pilot testing. An agreement to the same effect has also been entered into between GD, the Government of Ghana, and BOG.
It has been announced by BOG that GD will be providing the technology required to conduct the initial testing. How the testing will be carried out will also be determined by the German fintech firm. But before any testing could be run, complete due diligence and study of the market conditions shall also be analyzed. In this study, GD will determine whether the market in Ghana is ready for accepting the e-cedi digital currency. It has been proposed by GD that initially the test will be conducted with merchants, financial institutions, payment service providers, and others.
GD will also be evaluating Ghana’s CBDC’s effects on the existing payment systems as well as upon the monetary policy. The CBDC will further be evaluated for the purposes of looking at its legal implications, proposed GD. Furthermore, it has been suggested by BOG that at the end of testing it will use the valuable input to analyze the public response.
Governor of BOG, Ernest Addison, commented that greater opportunity for Ghana lies in the success of the national CBDC. It will help Ghana in building an inclusive, efficient, sustainable as well as competitive financial sector within the country. The overall concept of CBDC can play a major role in the bright future of Ghana’s economy and financial sector. He stated that the project will make Ghana the leader of Africa in adopting this unique and emerging technology.
