The new system allows a buyer in one African country to make a payment in his or her national currency and the seller in another country receives payment in their local currency.
Its commercial launch came after a successful pilot in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) region. The WAMZ is a West-African economic and integration body with six countries – Gambia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
According to Prudence Sebahizi, the Chief Technical Advisor at the AfCFTA Secretariat, the new system will allow a customer or a buyer to make payment in a national currency and the seller will receive the payment their own currency.
This, he noted, is way easier and less costly than changing the Kenyan shilling to the US dollar and then converting the US dollar to the Ghanaian cedi, as has been the case.
Emmanuel Sesonga, the director of business development at Herbmadz, a Rwandan holdings company that specializes in different sectors including IT and breweries, welcomed the initiative.
Sesonga said: “It’s a good initiative for us who are planning to tap into the continental market by exporting our products.
“We are also planning to open in different African countries and I hope that with these kind of systems, it eases doing business not only for us at Herbmadz but also others in the business community.”
In order to enable instant payments across African borders in local currency, a document available online indicates that the new system supports three core processes: instant payment, pre-funding and net settlement… Read more on All Africa
Source: All Africa
