Professor Lord Mensah, senior lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, has disclosed that the introduction of the e-cedi by the central bank will help the economy track transactions and “possibly” initiate taxes in the country.

According to him, because it is being “regulated”, when one wants to “catch up the economy in real time”, the quantum of transactions can be easily measured. Mr Mensah explained that the advantages inherent in e-cedi transactions deviates from normal bank transactions where it has to go through “several channels”.

“… The banks need to close the account at the end of the day and then possibly move funds across various banks before the central bank can capture some of these details. But for this one, once it’s being regulated and highly tracked along various points, I think the Bank of Ghana should be able to track the various transactions that are going on. The advantage is going to be that, it will go a long way to help the economy track possible transactions and also possibly look at where you can fix taxes here and there”.
Mr Lord Mensah

In an effort to deepen the digitalization process, the Bank of Ghana, according to the Vice President, Dr Bawumia, has started the process to launch the e-cedi, next year.

Dr Bawumia explained that with the digital currency, citizens will hold “currency in the form of a digital wallet”. When the e-cedi is fully adopted, he stressed that the incidence of fake or counterfeit currencies and bullion van robberies should be a thing of the past.

E-cedi versus bank to bank transactions

Describing the e-cedi, Mr Mensah explained that although it is not the“physical” coin or cash we know, it’s going to be a “currency backed by the regulator”. He emphasized that in the end it’s going to be a kind of currency “sitting on the internet”.

“It’s a space that is quite protective. We need to understand the digitalization of economies globally… Now, the transformation of goods and services, how they are consumed and how they exchange hands are mainly being digitized. So, that is the global trend now”.
Mr Lord Mensah

Touching on the Ghanacard being recognized and accepted as an e-passport in 147 airports, Mr Mensah highlighted the importance of “integration” of the cards to platforms that government will “digitize the economy” with.

He noted that it has become crucial to find a way of integrating the cards to enable easy identification during transactions.

“For identification purposes, it should be able to help us. We shouldn’t think that digital space has no risk. When we talk about cybercrimes and all those, we are going to have that blowing up. So, we need to identify the people behind the transaction. So, the database that we have as far as our national identification issue card is concerned, is going to prep up how we can digitize the economy”.
Mr Lord Mensah