⚠️ HRF CBDC ⛓️🪙 alert from HRF for Ghana (27-FEB-2024)

🗝️ℹ️ (Key Information)

CBDC Status: Pilot

CBDC Launch: n/a

CBDC Model: n/a

CBDC Issued: n/a

Inflation Rate: 31.26%

One-Sentence Summary:

🇬🇭 Ghana's Central Bank Digital Currency launch plans face delays amid economic instability, prompting concerns about potential human rights and civil liberties violations.

✅ 🇬🇭 Ghana's Bank of Ghana completed the pilot phase for its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) dubbed the E-cedi, but the launch timeline remains uncertain due to economic instability.

✅ In 2021, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia called for African governments to accept digital currencies at the Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference, while stressing the need for CBDCs, not cryptocurrency. The Bank of Ghana signed an agreement with Giesecke+Devrient to pilot a retail CBDC later that year.

✅ The launch was originally planned for 2022, however, due to high inflation, Governor Ernest Addison delayed the process to focus on stabilizing the macro environment.

✅ Despite the delay, the Bank of Ghana released a report covering the need for a Ghanaian CBDC, pointing at the rise of cryptocurrencies, digital economy, financial inclusion, and future regulations.

✅ By 2023, the Bank completed its pilot phase, but the CBDC launch was further postponed due to economic turbulence.

✅ In 2024, VP Bawumia projected the CBDC as an instrument to battle corruption, increase transparency, aid tax collection, and prevent money laundering.

✅ However, potential threats on human rights and civil liberties rise; Amnesty International noted efforts in Ghana to suppress freedom of expression, and the adoption of a CBDC could exacerbate it.

✅ The U.S. Department of State recorded a rise in attacks on journalists in 2022, with concerns that a CBDC could isolate journalists financially and increase government surveillance risks.

✅ 🇬🇭 Ghana grappled with corruption which led to over $346 million of financial mismanagement in 2022, casting doubts on the government's ability to limit surveillance, control, or other CBDC risks.

#Ghana #CBDC #HumanRights #CivilLiberties #FinancialInclusion #EconomicInstability #Corruption #Surveillance

Question:

Considering the potential risks and benefits in the Ghanaian context—do you think the development and implementation of CBDCs can co-exist with civil liberties and human rights protection? How could this delicate balance be achieved?

Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of the original text from HRF, forigve fuck-ups plox. If you find it useful, ⚡ the Tracker Bot because the AI and Cloud bits are not free to run.

Source of data: https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/home (npub1zhqcda52mrvcc0vkwegwsp5xtpk6l6x5kqx85f06tu9lw5h6xx0scch0dw)

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