By Lydia Ngwakwe

An economist, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, has commended the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for working on a global Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) platform to enable transactions between countries.

Uwaleke, a Professor of Finance and Capital market, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, made the commendation on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said the decision to come up with a concept of a global CBDC was a welcomed development.

NAN reports that IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, had on June 19, in Morocco, said the organisation was working on a platform for CBDC to enable transactions between countries.

The IMF wanted Central banks to agree on a common regulatory platform that would create a vacuum that would likely be filled by cryptocurrencies.

A CBDC is a digital currency controlled by the Central Bank, while cryptocurrencies are nearly always decentralised.

Already, 114 central banks are in their final stages preparing to launch CBDC, with about 10 already successfully completed, and Nigeria’s enaira is one of those.

According to Uwaleke, a global CBDC will  facilitate international transactions and interoperability faster than fragmented efforts by individual countries.

He said the concept would equally reduce the threat of private digital currencies such as bitcoin to Central Bank Digital Currencies.

“The major challenge that needs to be overcome to enhance interoperability is fragmented regulatory framework.

“A global CBDC will not replace the need for individual countries’ CBDC. Rather, it will complement it.

“While the former will be used to facilitate payments in foreign currencies, the latter can be used chiefly for transactions within a domestic economy,” he said.

Uwaleke, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the slow adoption of the enaira.

He said: “wide adoption of the enaira requires massive sensitisation and enlightenment campaigns.

“Many Nigerians still do not know about the enaira and how it is used.”

The economist, therefore, called on the government to help by ensuring that a fraction of civil servants salaries were paid using enaira, saying that would improve its adoption. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Benson Ezugwu/Chioma Ugboma