Zimbabwe Learns Lesson From Nigeria’s eNaira for Its CBDC Plans

Zimbabwe Learns Lesson From Nigeria’s eNaira for Its CBDC Plans

• As per the Deputy Governor, Zimbabwe is preparing to introduce a digital currency.
• Matshe called eNaira’s slow adoption a learning point for Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe sent teams to visit central banks across the world to study their CBDCs.

When it comes to introducing a cryptocurrency plan for its own central bank digital currency, Zimbabwe is learning lessons from Nigeria. As per reports, Zimbabwe is seemingly not planning to back out from its crypto plans even with the country’s dimming interest shown towards crypto.

Innocent Matshe, Deputy Governor of the Southern African nation’s Reserve Bank revealed that Africa’s first CBDC, eNaira has seen quite a slow uptake with its launch, however, that has not affected Zimbabwe’s decision-making. In fact, the country is preparing to introduce a digital currency even as the jury is ‘still out’ on the plans, Matshe added.In an interview at a conference held near Port Louis, Mauritius, Matshe emphasized the real hesitancy in the market towards crypto.

Matshe further added:

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.

Matshe shared that in order to prepare plans for CBDC, the government sent teams to visit several central banks around the world including Ghana and China to study their digital currencies.

Furthermore, Matshe added that the digital currency will have its own specificities. The Deputy Governer explained that the government is not thinking of linking the CBDC to any particular currency as it is still looking at other options.

Zimbabwe is currently suffering from currency issues as the local dollar has lost more than 80% of its value against US dollars in 2022. The US dollar is also used in the country as an alternative currency. As for the eNaira, less than 0.5% of Nigerians use it. The slow adoption has caused the central bank to look at new ways to stimulate interest amongst the masses in digital currency. As a result, the government is offering discounts to drivers and passengers of three-wheeler cabs to encourage the use of eNaira.

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