Innocent Matshe, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Deputy Governor, recently stated that the slow adoption of the e-naira, the central bank of Nigeria, will not deter the Zimbabwean central bank from developing its own CBDC. He further stated that while the jury is still out on CBDCs, the institution will still proceed with its digital currency launch preparations.
As previously reported, fewer than anticipated Nigerian adults have downloaded or are using the CBDC when making payments. Some reports have estimated the number of active e-naira wallet users to be around 5% of Nigeria’s adult population. Experts have tied the slow adoption of the e-naira to the digital currency’s failure to live up to the promises made prior to its launch.
Meanwhile, one Nigeria expert, Chiagozie Iwu, the founder of Naijacrypto a local digital currency exchange, stated that instead of competing with fintechs, the Central Bank of Nigeria needs to create a more friendly environment to support fintech and blockchain-based innovations.
However, in Innocent Matshe’s remarks, he acknowledged that while the country may have some hesitation regarding CBDCs, this should not stop the preparations.
He said, “Certainly it’s a point to consider that there is hesitancy in the market. We don’t think that it is a deterrent at this point, we just think that it is a learning point for us. We can then adopt measures to try and mitigate the factors that are causing that hesitancy in the Nigerian market.”
Additionally, according to the Deputy Governor, the Zimbabwean government has already sent teams to countries like China and Ghana to study their respective CBDC projects. Before this, a team from the RBZ led by Josephat Mutepfa had visited the Nigerian central bank on June 27.
In the meantime, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe proposed that the digital currency for Zimbabwe will have its own unique features.
He added that while all options are still on the table, the Reserve Bank is not expecting the CBDC to be directly linked to any currency.