Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed that plans were underway to expedite the roll-out of the E-cedi.
The successful implementation of the initiative he suggested will help in the fight against corruption particulalrly money laundering.
The E-Cedi, a digital counterpart of the local currency, was initiated by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) in 2021.
The implemention was put on hold after a successful piloting due to what the Central Bank described as economic dislocation.
But speaking at the 14th Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa, held in Accra on Thursday, the Vice President said:“We are also using digital technology to track money and suspicious activity and we are working very closely with the central bank and they are piloting to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) which we call the E-Cedi.
“And with the successful piloting of the E-Cedi, which is essentially a digital version of our currency with appropriate privacy protections. With that successful pilot, it will be the ultimate weapon in our fight against corruption.”
“The CBDC will be the ultimate weapon because the E-Cedi will make it easy to track the movement of money and identify suspicious activity. It will provide us with high-level transparency, reduce the risk of fraud, and reduce the level of tax avoidance and money laundering,” he added.
According to a BIS survey in 2021 on CBDC, 86% of central banks were actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
