Nigeria launches digital version of its currency, the e-naira

Naira, the Nigerian currency, October 20, 2015 (illustrative image).

AP - Sunday Alamba

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Nigeria will launch, this Monday, October 25, its virtual currency, the e-naira - supposed to promote banking inclusion and facilitate money transfers abroad.

The most populous country in Africa and the continent's largest economy in terms of GDP is a pioneer alongside Ghana, which has been testing this virtual currency system since September.

President Muhammadu Buhari will launch the e-naira himself from the presidential villa of Aso Rock in Abuja.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Lagos,

The e-naira, Nigeria's new digital currency, must allow simple, free and secure payment under the control of the Central Bank.

This will exist alongside species, without replacing them.

But this virtual currency should greatly facilitate payments - especially for people who do not have access to traditional banking systems in Nigeria. 

Facilitate sending remittances abroad

With the e-naira, the country's central bank also hopes to facilitate remittances abroad - at a time when many Nigerians in the diaspora are moving away from official channels to transfer money home.

Safe investment

The goal is also to counter the influence of cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin - which totally escape the control of state institutions or global regulators.

Nigeria is currently the third largest user of virtual currencies in the world after the United States and Russia.

For many, cryptocurrencies represent a safe haven in the face of the constant depreciation of the naira in recent years.

►

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Nigeria

• Currencies

• Finance

• Social issues