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Overthrowing the King: Could Central Bank Digital Currencies Replace Cash in Post-COVID-19 Africa?
Despite advances in digital technology, cash has remained the undisputed king of payments in sub-Saharan Africa. However, as Michaella Allen and Christine Hougaard at Cenfri explain, COVID-19 has placed a stigma on cash and led governments across the region to actively encourage digital payments. They explore the implications of this shift, and whether it could make central bank digital currencies a viable alternative.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Technology
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Press Release: Careem, Visa, Sign Partnership to Accelerate Cashless Payments and Digital Financial Inclusion Across MENA
Visa push payment services will be available on the Careem Pay Super App for Captains to make low-cost money transfers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Women ‘on Precipice’ in Developing Countries Amid COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic means that millions of women in Africa and other developing regions could lose years of success in contributing to household incomes, asserting their independence and expanding financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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Report: Financial Inclusion Can Help Curb Detrimental Effects of Inequality
An academic from Queen Mary University of London has published a research paper which shows that financial inclusion could be a tool to curb the rise in poverty in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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BigPay’s Remittance Service Achieves Record Growth
BigPay’s remittance service has grown at an average of 35 per cent month-on-month since its launch in September 2019 and it now looking to open up more corridors across the Asian region.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Why It’s Time for Africa to Adopt a Regional Digital Financial Identity
Over 1 billion people globally lack any form of officially recognized identification. According to Nkosinathi Ncube at FinMark Trust, this is a significant obstacle to financial inclusion and other development efforts – but overcoming it is no easy task. He explores some of the challenges to expanding access to formal identity in Africa, and explains why an effective solution will require regional action.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Building Back Better: How the COVID-19 Crisis Could Lead to an Integration of Health Care and Finance
Since COVID-19 started, the health care world has been talking about finance, trying to lessen the economic damage of lockdowns. And the financial world has been talking about health, launching new products that address the challenges of the pandemic. Chris Wolff explores how the two industries can use their combined response to rebuild in a way that leaves the world in a better place than it was before.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Health Care, Technology
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Financial Inclusion in the Wake of COVID-19
Lack of access to financial tools—like credit and savings accounts—inhibit socio-economic mobility for individuals living in poverty across the globe. For approximately the past 40 years, there has been a movement toward financial inclusion for emerging markets such as those found in sub-Saharan Africa, but the progress made thus far is now facing a grim outlook due to the global coronavirus pandemic. In this post, we will explore imminent threats posed to financial inclusion that are anticipated to trickle down as the effects of COVID-19 continue to be felt around the globe.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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