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In an effort to overcome trade obstacles and other financial difficulties on the African continent, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the vice president and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has suggested that mobile money be adopted as a standard payment method throughout the continent.
At the Africa Prosperity Network (APN)-hosted Interoperability Symposium in Accra on Friday, Dr. Bawumia spoke to African attendees and highlighted long-standing obstacles to inter-African trade, including the low rate of trade among Africans, the low export rate, challenging and slow payment systems, and pressure on foreign exchange.
Dr. Bawumia suggested the implementation of an African mobile money interoperability payment system as a solution to these issues, claiming that it would facilitate trade and be easy to use.
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“Trade payments and relationships are currently hampered by inadequate settlement systems, which result in high costs, limited access, slow processing speeds, and a lack of transparency.”
“Making mobile money interoperable across borders (Africa) would allow our citizens to trade seamlessly,” Dr. Bawumia continued, stressing that implementation would need a strong political will.
If political will is lacking, it is unlikely to be accomplished. Bringing stakeholders together on a single platform requires a lot of work, he stated.
Dr. Bawumia went on to discuss how an African mobile money interoperability payment system will essentially turn the continent’s money into a single currency for trade without the need to meet all financial standards on his Facebook page.
He cited Ghana’s successful adoption of an interoperable mobile money payment system as an example from which Africa may grow.
Below is what Dr. Bawumia wrote:
I was the keynote speaker for the opening session of the Africa Prosperity Network Conference held in Accra today. This session of the conference seeks to explore the partnerships and possibilities of intra-African continental mobile money interoperability. The theme underscores Ghana’s leading role in ensuring triangular mobile money interoperability that ensures seamless financial transactions across telcos, bank accounts, and e-zwich platforms.
Ghana’s successful implementation of a comprehensive mobile money interoperability, which is unique on the continent, will become handy as the rest of Africa strives to pursue a similar course.
For me, having continental mobile money interoperability will ultimately achieve, to a greater extent, the objectives of a common currency without necessarily having a common currency in Africa. We should aim at pursuing this on an incremental basis. This does not require pursuing the elusive macroeconomic convergence criteria by the West African Monetary Zone countries, for example, but rather the implementation of digital payments convergence criteria. Just a few countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire can start and we can proceed incrementally.
