Ghana is collaborating with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and other stakeholders to explore stablecoins and digital financial innovations aimed at easing the continent’s costly and fragmented cross-border payments, the central bank governor has disclosed.
Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor Johnson Pandit Asiama said the initiative formed part of wider efforts to strengthen financial integration, improve payment interoperability, cut transaction costs and support seamless trade within the sub-region and across Africa. He said the experimentation was being conducted inside a controlled regulatory sandbox so that emerging solutions could be tested while risks were carefully managed.
Speaking during a fireside chat on the future of monetary governance and digital transformation at the ACI Financial Markets World Congress in Accra, Dr Asiama said African settlement systems remained highly fragmented despite progress on regional trade. That gap, he argued, makes intra-African transactions expensive, slow and inefficient, undermining the AfCFTA agenda.
He illustrated the problem starkly, noting that observers often find it cheaper to move money across oceans than to a neighbouring African country. Efficient and interoperable payment infrastructure, he said, was essential for businesses, consumers and investors operating across the continent’s borders.
Dr Asiama explained that stablecoins, digital currencies typically pegged to fiat currencies or commodities to hold steady value, were among the tools African central banks were studying to improve settlements. He said regulators across the continent were now sharing lessons and working toward harmonised approaches that encourage innovation without compromising stability.
The Governor cautioned against rigid oversight that could stifle progress. “Do not regulate the technology but regulate the risk,” he said, urging regulators to understand emerging tools and facilitate rather than frustrate their development.
He said the BoG had been actively promoting regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs to let fintech firms test products safely under supervision, and revealed that talks were underway to build a broader sub-regional sandbox framework allowing African countries to jointly test and coordinate digital innovations.
Dr Asiama also highlighted the Bank’s backing for platforms such as the 3i Africa Summit, which convenes central bank governors, innovators, investors and policymakers. He expressed optimism that deeper collaboration would help Africa build resilient, inclusive and technology-driven financial systems, adding that the continent’s future competitiveness would hinge on integrated and interoperable infrastructure.
