Zandamela calls for efficient continental payment system

Maputo, 4 Jun (AIM) – The governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, has called for the establishment of an efficient and secure continental payment system to boost trade as well as financial inclusion on the African continent.

According to Zandamela, who was speaking on Monday, in Maputo, at the opening ceremony of a two-day Continental Seminar of the Association of African Central Banks, held under the slogan “Developing Payment Systems to Promote Financial Inclusion and Intra-African Trade: Challenges and Opportunities”, the continent needs an efficient and secure payment system because, despite the progress made in recent years, Africa is still far from achieving the desirable levels of financial inclusion. Around half of Africa’s population is still excluded from the financial system, which is around twice the world average.

“Due to the lack of such a system, progress in intra-African trade has been particularly slow”, said Zandamela. He pointed out that, in the last 10 years, intra-African trade has grown by four per cent, representing only 14 per cent of total African exports.

He believed it is of the utmost importance that “we continue to work on regional payment systems to meet the challenges of intra-African trade and financial inclusion.”

At the meeting, which includes 66 participants from 23 African central banks and international partner institutions, Zandamela also challenged the sector to integrate and interoperate the various systems in order to address financial inclusion and intra-continental trade.

He also highlighted progress with the implementation of three regional payment and settlement platforms in the region, namely: the Southern African Development Community Real Time Gross Settlement System (SADC-RTGS); the East African Community Payment and Settlement System and, finally, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Regional Payment and Settlement System.

“However, in addition to creating various payment platforms, Africa needs integration and interoperability between the various systems so that they fulfill our purposes. To this end, we must continue to work towards the harmonization of regulatory and supervisory frameworks and continue to monitor and mitigate the various risks, namely cybersecurity, money laundering and terrorism financing”, he said.

Zandamela said he hoped that the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System launched in Accra in 2022, under the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, would promote intra-African trade and financial inclusion.

“It will allow payments in local currency between African countries, thus reducing dependence on foreign currency liquidity and transaction costs, in order to promote an increase in the volume of goods and services traded between African economies”, he explained.

(AIM)

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