The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has formally opened discussions to join an Africa-wide cross-border payment system to get an immediate solution to the current dollar shortage crisis facing Kenya and other African economies.
According to CBK Governor Kamau Thugge, talks are underway for Kenya to actualize the African Union-backed platform – a centralized payment and settlement system for intra-African trade in goods and services.
”We are in the midst of discussions with the Afreximbank on how we can join this Pan-African Payment and Settlement System,” Dr. Kamau Thugge said on Tuesday during a post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Nairobi.
The new system is backed by the Pan African Trade Bank, the Africa Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank), and the African Union (AU).
It has been commercially rolled out after a yearlong pilot in six West African countries under the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) and other regional countries are expected to join in.
Five African multinational commercial banking groups, including KCB Group, Access Bank Group, Ecobank Group, Standard Bank Group, and UBA Group, have signed memorandums of understanding to join the platform.
