Kenya officially joins Pan African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS)

By bne IntelliNews October 11, 2023

Kenya has become the tenth country to join the Pan African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS), a new way to make instant cross-border payments in local currencies across the continent.

“This means that Kenyan companies can trade with their peers from other African member states using our local currencies, a major boost for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” Trade Secretary Moses Kuria said on October 6, noting that the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) had signed the agreement and completed all necessary formalities.

The vast majority of Africa’s intra-regional trade is currently done through conversions to the US dollar. Initiatives like PAPSS and the AfCFTA, which would create the world’s largest free trade zone by area, seek to boost internal trade by reducing barriers, including the need for intermediaries such as the greenback.

PAPSS was launched in January 2022, and is currently used by commercial banks and payment service providers in nine African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Djibouti, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

Since its launch, PAPSS has reportedly saved African companies over $5bn in transaction charges they would have incurred using alternative payment methods. With its growing success, PAPSS is expected to be rolled out to all 54 African countries in the near future.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) expects 15 to 20 countries will have joined the system by the end of 2023, its president, Benedict Oramah, told Bloomberg in June.

PAPSS is using dollar exchange rates for now, said Oramah, whose bank funds the system, but is working with central banks to develop an exchange-rate mechanism that would allow Africa’s 42 currencies to be convertible among themselves. “What we are doing is to domesticate intra-African payments,” he said.

Read in IntelliNews Pro
Get IntelliNews Pro

Related Articles

Kenyan lawmakers move to regulate, tax cryptocurrencies

Kenya has set in motion plans to regulate and tax the fast-expanding cryptocurrency industry, a development that will result in about 4mn Kenyans being subjected to taxation. Parliament’s ... more

Three renewables-focused entities sign power purchase deal for Zambian solar energy project Ilute

Africa GreenCo Group (GreenCo), Serengeti Energy and Western Solar Power have signed a power purchase agreement  (PPA) for the 25-MW Ilute Solar PV Project (Ilute Solar) in western Zambia. ... ... more

Could the DRC become the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age?

Perhaps no country has more to gain from the ‘clean’ energy transition than the Democratic Republic of the ... more

Follow Us On

Most Read

  1. LONG READ: The boomerang effect: sanctions hurt Europe more than Russia
    6 days ago
  2. Putin's approval rating up to 85% in November, Russians happy with the country's direction
    4 days ago
  3. Oil continues to flow to Israel via Turkey despite Erdogan’s vehement speeches on plight of Gaza
    1 month ago
  4. Top Ukrainian politician David Arakhamia gives seventh confirmation of Russia-Ukraine peace deal agreed in March 2022
    11 days ago
  5. Former Kazakh leader Nazarbayev confesses to polygamy with Miss Kazakhstan 1999
    2 days ago
  1. Oil continues to flow to Israel via Turkey despite Erdogan’s vehement speeches on plight of Gaza
    1 month ago
  2. Top Ukrainian politician David Arakhamia gives seventh confirmation of Russia-Ukraine peace deal agreed in March 2022
    11 days ago
  3. Russia overtakes Germany to become fifth biggest economy in the world in GDP on a PPP basis
    4 months ago
  4. Armenia marks new era with French military purchases
    10 days ago
  5. Lavrov confirms Ukraine war peace deal reached last April, but then abandoned
    2 months ago

Reports

SELECT `n`.`nid` AS `id`, `n`.`title`, 'bne IntelliNews' AS authors, 'bne IntelliNews' AS bylines, `wc`.`field_website_callout_value` AS `summary`, `smc`.`field_social_media_callout_value` AS `social`, `pd`.`published_at` AS `date`, `p`.`field_publication__tid` AS `publication_id`, `fm`.`uri` AS `image`, `fspcaption`.`field_story_photo_caption_value` AS `image_credit`, `fspcredit`.`field_story_photo_credit_value` AS `image_author`, `ws`.`field_website_sections_tid` AS `section_id`, `fdfs`.`field_subject_tid` AS `subject_id`, `db`.`body_value` AS `body`, `fm2`.`uri` AS `pdf`, `et`.`field_enable_tracking_value` AS `tracking`, `ht`.`field_head_tags_value` AS `headTags`, `bt`.`field_body_tags_value` AS `bodyTags` FROM `node` AS `n` LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_website_callout` AS `wc` ON wc.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_social_media_callout` AS `smc` ON smc.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `publication_date` AS `pd` ON pd.nid = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_publication_` AS `p` ON p.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_story_picture` AS `sp` ON sp.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `file_managed` AS `fm` ON fm.fid = sp.field_story_picture_fid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_story_photo_caption` AS `fspcaption` ON fspcaption.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_story_photo_credit` AS `fspcredit` ON fspcredit.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `workflow_node` AS `wn` ON wn.nid = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_website_sections` AS `ws` ON ws.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_subject` AS `fdfs` ON fdfs.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_body` AS `db` ON db.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_file` AS `ff` ON ff.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `file_managed` AS `fm2` ON fm2.fid = ff.field_file_fid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_enable_tracking` AS `et` ON et.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_head_tags` AS `ht` ON ht.entity_id = n.nid LEFT JOIN `field_data_field_body_tags` AS `bt` ON bt.entity_id = n.nid WHERE (n.status = 1) AND (n.type = 'article') AND (n.nid = 296223) AND (wn.sid= 3) AND (p.field_publication__tid IN (2465,2851,3184,3159,3266,3264,3270,3265,3267,3268,3269,3171,3168,3185,3170,1346,1345,3180,3175,3254,3249,1207,1208,3181,3231,3177,3186,3178,1003,3187,2975,3204,3198,3188,3202,3196,3250,3189,3160,3161,3312,3313,3173,3314,3315,3167,3259,3257,3263,3258,3260,3261,3262,3174,3316,3165,3192,3163,3282,3190,2811,3256,3317,3162,3318,3191,3297,3182,3179,3166,3319,3376,3320,3172,3255,3169,1008,3203,3197,3321,3252,3164,1307,3322,3183,3220,3176,3201,3323,1327,1020,1006,1009,1013,1014,1018,1005,1328,1010,1011,1002,1012,1311,1330,1017,1016,1019,1004,1001,1334,1335,1336,1015,1337,1338,1339,1340,1341,2496,2501,2517,2529,2506,2505,2524,2513,2526,2537,2489,2490,2520,2536,2488,2532,2500,2515,2503,2493,2527,2523,2510,2525,2498,2499,2528,2507,2487,2511,2521,2502,2491,2519,2497,2492,2514,2495,2509,2512,1629,3358)) LIMIT 1
Dismiss