Financial inclusion system expected to start running November 2024
Own Correspondent
The Comesa Business Council’s digital financial inclusion system is set to change the dynamics of intra Africa Trade as it is expected to remove financial trade barriers, CBC’s Chair of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee, Dr Tinashe Manzungu has revealed.
In an interview with Africa News 24, Dr Manzungu, who was recently appointed the FRAC Chair said the Digital Financial Inclusion system, to be launched in November 2024, was designed to boost intra-Africa trade.
“CBC has various projects that are being implemented and under these projects, we are set to launch a digital financial inclusion, where the aim is to trade within Africa as a bloc. We want Africa to end up having, for example one currency. We want Africa to have a place where they meet and trade, and for that to happen, this is one of the mandates that Comesa business council is striving for,” said Dr Manzungu.
“The digital financial inclusion system, which we are designing to digitally bring together and closer 21 African countries and enhance financial inclusion. We are talking of a payment platform where all the countries meet to trade. If I am to buy something from Zambia while I am in Mauritius, it must be by the click of a button using the Mauritian currency. And we are looking forward to launching this in November this year.”
He said the platform would be inclusive of the reserve banks across Africa and that the CBC had already started engagements.
Dr Manzungu added, “The reserve banks across the continent will then liaise with their local banks to position themselves in embracing the initiatives”.
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“This will also include the issues of mobile money systems where all these platforms are also going to be used, as well as all the platforms that have to do with money exchange systems.
He said the idea behind the concept was to develop a system that could be deployed to the masses across the continent.
“This means that Africa can easily trade, intra-Africa trade is enhanced. Barriers to trade will be avoided. You also see that this is a retail payment system that is going to be accepted widely by our SMEs within Africa. Most of these are informally operating and this will also then bring them to the formalised system, which means that they will be able to be paying taxes.”
He said the system would cut off unnecessary transactional costs that were deterring intra-Africa trade.
