African nations are strong emerging markets and new technologies in finance and banking can help keep that dynamo going, experts in Kigali, Rwanda said today
World economic experts speaking at the 25th session of the African Regional Conference for the Society for the Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) in Kigali, Rwanda have called on the continent’s nations to immerse themselves in the latest finance-driven technologies.
Africa’s financial sector – as a whole – is in need of modernizing and upgrading as a means of inclusion into the global financial system.
“There is a consensus in Africa that the economic outlook for the next decade will highly be driven by the service sector dominated by ICT and financial services,” said Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente.
This is crucial, experts say, to maintain the pace of economic growth on the continent.
Africa has a collective gross domestic product of more than $2,000 billion and is home to seven of the world’s fastest growing economies.
In late May, 15 African banks signed up for the latest global payment innovation service developed by SWIFT. More than $100 billion dollars crosses borders every day via this gpi service.
Four banks have already implemented and are using the gpi service. These include Standard Bank of South Africa, FirstRand Bank, ABSA Bank and Nedbank. The other 11 are expected to adopt the service within the next five months.
The meeting in Kigali also examined some of the key trends in the region, including more enhanced means of financial transactions and how they can be a dynamo for Africa-wide trade.
African economies are also forecast to expand their growth, the World Bank forecasts. Egypt, for example, is forecast to grow from 4.2 per cent in 2017 to 4.5 per cent in 2018.
Chad, where anti-ISIL and anti-AlQaeda campaigns seem to be stabilizing the country, is expected to emerge from 2.7 per cent contraction in 2017 to 2.9 per cent GDP growth this year.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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