African businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as millions of ordinary Africans, will soon heave a sigh of relief with the adoption of a proposal to allow cross-border mobile money interoperability on the continent.
The proposal, which was presented by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the recently held 6th Coordination Meeting in Accra, will be a shot in the arm of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which has a target to increase intra-African trade from its paltry 15% to 50% in 2045.
In a passionate appeal to the assemblage of African leaders, President Akufo-Addo expressed optimism, saying that “by allowing Africans the freedom to buy and sell across borders, I believe that freedom alone will immediately create a surge in demand and supply, which will, in no time, create a huge incentive for unprecedented investments in cross-border transport and logistics. We stand at the gates of unlocking tremendous opportunities for trade, investment, growth, jobs, and economic integration in Africa for Africans.”.
The two proposals presented by President Akufo-Addo, who is also the AU Champion on AU financial institutions, were: the establishment of the African Union Financial Institutions (AUFIs); and scaling up Interoperability for Economic Integration: using mobile money to buy and sell across Africa.
The AU, in its draft declaration after its deliberations, endorsed both proposals.
According to President Akufo-Addo, MSMEs make up approximately 90% of businesses on the continent, providing about 80% of job opportunities in Africa alone; therefore, it is imperative to speed up the creation of a single market.
The President urged his African counterparts to show a “clear and decisive leadership commitment to allow Africans to use their mobile money wallets to buy and sell across member states, which is a policy initiative that cannot be delayed.”.
He said, “We can and must all sign up to achieve this continent-wide mobile money interoperability in the shortest possible time.”.