Bank of Ghana: Dr Ernest Addison Announces Start of E-Cedi Piloting In Sefwi Asafo
- The central bank of Ghana is making a big move toward securing a cashless economy as it starts piloting the e-cedi in Sefwi Asafo, a town in the Western North Region
- The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has explained that the e-cedi is designed as a digital replica of the Ghana cedi notes and coins
- Apart from boosting Ghana's drive toward a cashless economy, the e-cedi is also expected to fight money laundering
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The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has begun piloting the offline feature of the e-cedi in the Western North Region town of Sefwi Asafo.
Source: Getty Images
Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, said on Monday, May 30, 2022, that selected users in that community have been using the e-cedi for daily purchases of food, groceries, and drinks.
“The BoG will continue to work with these users to obtain the critical usage data that will inform the decision about the e-cedi’s future after the pilot.
“These are clearly landmark events in providing digital leadership with the payment systems to lead to a digitalised economy in the near future,” the BoG boss said at the Ghana CEO Summit in Accra on Monday.
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The e-cedi is designed as a digital replica of the Ghana cedi notes and coins. It is crafted as a retail token-based digital currency stored in a digital wallet, convertible to Ghana cedis in the form of cash or deposit money on a 1:1 ratio. The owner of e-cedis can redeem them for physical cedis and use them for a variety of payments.
For the online features, the e-cedi testing is limited to Vodafone Cash users, CalBank customers, and IT Consortium in Accra and Tarkwa in the Western Region.
The E-Cedi’s offline feature will allow users to make use of digital currency without the requirement of the internet.
The pilot testing of the e-cedi is expected to be completed before the end of the year. There’s expected to be an official app for users to use to make purchases.
The e-cedi is expected to fight money laundering and boost Ghana’s drive toward a cashless economy.
E-Levy: GRA Official Reveals Sending Money Through Vendors Is Illegal
Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that an official of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has revealed that it is illegal for someone to send money to another person through a mobile money vendor.
Patrick Frimpong Danso, who is a member of a Technical Committee fine-tuning the implementation of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) has said although the practice is common it has always been illegal.
“It is illegal. You can’t go to a vendor and say take GH¢200 and send it to someone for me. No. When you go to the vendor, you are going to do only two things: to do a cash-out or cash-in. So, either you are withdrawing money or you are putting money in your own wallet,” he told Joy News on Monday, June 30, 2022.
Source: YEN.com.gh
