Eswatini Central Bank Partners With German Firm to Explore CBDC – Recently, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) became the most recent African country to announce its plan to create a digital currency, when it was disclosed that the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has appointed the German firm Giesecke Devrient as its technology partner. According to the technology company, an agreement was made at the last annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank Group.
The country chose the German firm two years after it completed the CBDC Diagnostic Study, which indicated that a retail CBDC gave the strongest and direct opportunity for the adoption of a digital currency in Eswatini. The recently signed agreement allows both sides to understand the practicalities of adopting a CBDC in Eswatini.
Commenting on the CBE’s coming together with Giesecke Devrient, the bank’s governor, Phil Mnisi, said: “The Central Bank of Eswatini is delighted to have engaged G+D as a technical consultant to walk with us in our journey as we explore and formulate the foundational policy considerations and use cases of a localized CBDC. We are confident that G+D’s technological expertise and their strong regional presence in our continent will allow us to realize all possible advantages of a Digital Lilangeni and ensure we’re fully equipped to issue a CBDC in the future.”
For his part, the CEO of the technology company, Wolfram Seidemann, claimed that Eswatini was one of the African countries to “take the step toward a retail CBDC.” Seidemann, whose company has also partnered with the Ghanaian central bank, expressed his company’s pride in participating in Eswatini’s CBDC journey.
The CBE, like its counterparts in other African countries, is eager to implement a CBDC in order to avoid the issues associated with fiat currency systems. The Nigerian central bank is the only institution in Africa to have launched a digital currency. Several African nations interested in launching a CBDC are either conducting research or conducting trials.
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