By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, has warned about the risk of the retail Central Bank Digital currencies amid a surge of e-Naira transactions in Nigeria.
In an interview at the Milken Institute’s 2023 Global Conference in Argentina less than a week ago, Georgieva urged countries to stick to less risky Central Bank Digital Currencies, CBDC options.
Georgrieva noted that wholesale CBDCs are a better option than retail CBDCs because of the room for errors.
“We think wholesale CBDCs can be put in place with fairly little space for undesirable surprises, whereas retail CBDCs completely transform the financial system in a way that we don’t quite know what consequences it could bring,” IMF boss said.
Nigeria’s eNaira, one of the first digital currencies in the World, was inaugurated on October 25, 2021.
Since its launch, the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has continued to promote its advantages, including enhancing broader remittance and payment.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, hinted recently at the 34th seminar for Correspondents and Business Editors in Calabar that over 1.4m transactions have passed through the eNaira platform, indicating growth in the Country’s payment system.
