Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has suggested that given the difficulty African countries have encountered in having a single currency to facilitate trade, Interconnected payment systems, including mobile money interoperability, are a better way to strengthen trade between and among African countries.

Dr Bawumia urged African countries to put their focus on these systems rather than seek to have a single currency which can only be achieved when all interested members meet a convergence criteria.

He stressed that cross-border trade in Africa can be boosted with well-implemented Interconnected payment systems.

“Making mobile money interoperable allows our citizens across the continent to trade seamlessly. And so this is where I believe as African countries we need to focus on. One of the common problems of achieving a common currency was the difficulty of our respective countries in achieving the macro-economic convergence,” Dr Bawumia argued.

Speaking as a Guest Speaker at the opening of the Continental Mobile Interoperability Symposium put together by the Africa Prosperity Network in Accra yesterday, Dr Bawumia explained that digitalization and digital payment systems have made the need to have a single currency obsolete and African countries must embrace these new systems.