The Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Kenneth Thompson has welcomed the initiative by the Bank of Ghana to introduce a digital currency known as the e-Cedi to promote efficiency in payment systems.
He believed the introduction of the e-cedi will be more cost-effective than the physical cash as the latter is prone to damage.
He was speaking in reaction to the news of an e-cedi as highlighted at the 2021 Ghana Economic Forum by the governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison.
Kenneth told Sefa-Danquah on the Happy Morning Show: “e-cedi is very feasible just like the mobile money. This means we will be sending money digitally instead of using physical cash. The government must know how much money is in the system and work towards that and that is how we develop. It is a very good idea. If we will be paid e-Cedi then it is better and cheaper. This is because handling cash is expensive.”
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, delivering his speech at the 10th Ghana Economic Forum, said rapid changes in payments technology had made the use of technology in financial services become a necessity rather than a choice, which was driven by consumer demand for convenience, efficiency, and lower cost of transactions.
He added that the Bank of Ghana had entered the space of digitization and piloting the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), with broad stakeholder consultations on the project.
That, he said would lead to the issuance of a digital currency, the E-Cedi, a safe and stable means of payments and settlements which would advance financial inclusiveness, promote efficiency in the payment systems, and foster competition in the financial sector.