By Joshua Worlasi AMLANU
Central banks across sub-Saharan Africa are ramping up efforts to lower the cost of remittances and streamline cross-border payments as part of a coordinated digital finance reform agenda.
Policymakers agree that reducing payment frictions is critical to improving livelihoods and driving regional economic integration.
At a high-level seminar in Accra hosted by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and IMF’s African Department, BoG Governor Dr. Johnson Asiama said the high costs and inefficiencies associated with remittances were a pressing concern for African economies, where such transfers are often a lifeline for households.
“Cross-border payments remain slow, costly and opaque,” he noted. “We need coordinated action to remove legacy frictions and design systems that work for our people.”
While remittances represent a significant share of GDP for many African countries, average transaction costs still exceed global targets – driven by outdated systems, fragmented regulations and limited interoperability among payment platforms.
To address this, he said, Ghana is stepping up its role in regional digital finance initiatives. The country is a key participant in the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), which aims to simplify intra-African payments and reduce dependence on non-African clearing channels. The platform currently connects 15 central banks, 12 payment switches and over 50 commercial banks.
“PAPSS is an important step toward enhancing financial sovereignty,” Dr. Asiama said.
He underscored the potential of PAPSS to support small businesses, reduce settlement times and expand access to cross-border trade.
The two-day seminar, held under the theme ‘Remittances, Compliance and Interoperability’, brings together central bank governors, senior IMF officials and representatives from the World Bank to assess the progress and challenges in developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and digital payments infrastructure.
Ghana is also co-leading two major initiatives with the National Bank of Rwanda. The first is the FinTech Licence Passporting Framework, which seeks to harmonise regulatory approval processes and enable trusted digital firms to operate across multiple markets.
The second, dubbed the Africa NextGen Digital Payment Infrastructure project, is focused on building secure and inclusive payment systems tailored to African use cases.
While infrastructure is critical, policymakers acknowledged that regulatory agility and coherence are equally essential. Multi-regulator sandboxes – controlled environments where central banks, innovators and governments can test new technologies – are being promoted as effective tools to balance innovation with oversight.
Dr. Asiama underscored the role of supervisory technologies (SupTech) in enabling real-time compliance, data sharing and cross-border monitoring.
He argued that the continent must proactively shape global standards on digital identity, anti-money laundering and data privacy to reflect local realities.
“Africa must be at the table, not on the menu, when global standards are being set,” he said.
Participants also noted that digital trade agreements could further promote interoperability, build trust and unlock the full potential of digital finance across the continent. However, beyond technical aspects, the reform agenda remains rooted in improving lives.
“The single mother receiving remittances to keep her children in school or the young entrepreneur trying to scale their business – these are the people we’re working for,” the Governor said.
Outcomes of the seminar are expected to inform future digital payment strategies, enhance compliance practices and accelerate the development of interoperable, low-cost payment systems across sub-Saharan Africa.
