Central African Republic creating own digital currency
The Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has launched its digital currency project “Sango Coin’. This is coming barely two months after the country became the first in Africa to adopt Bitcoin.
While President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who is spearheading the project, seem very excited and optimistic about its outcome, his government hasn’t really disclosed much details about how he intends to actualise his goals.
The President did stress, however, that the digital currency project will serve as the currency for the next generation, develop CAR’s financial industry and encourage financial inclusion.
“The Central African Republic sits on a mountain of resources — gold, diamonds, rare minerals, unexploited resources. Sango Coin will enable the direct access to our resources for the whole world,” Bloomberg quoted him to have said.
The only concern at this point is whether the country has the capacity to undertake these projects. Already, its crypto ambition has been vocally opposed by both former leaders in the country and the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). They’ve also raised concerns that the move could destabilise financial stability not only in CAR, but also the entire Central Africa region.
Do note that the Central African Republic is among the top 10 poorest countries in Africa with a GPD per capita of only $492.8 according to the World Bank. The country also has one of the lowest internet penetration rates of 11.4% according to Internet World Stats.
More so, the country has one of the worst electricity access rates on the continent. All these are factors that could militate against its lofty crypto and digital currency ambitions.
