African states must fully leverage fintech and digital innovation to reap the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He explained this by pointing to the possibility that the AfCFTA will drastically change the continent’s economic environment.
He emphasised at the 3i Africa Summit in Accra how important it is for African countries to embrace the technologies that are transforming the world economy and modify them to fit the needs of the continent.
President Akufo-Addo went on to emphasise how important it is for African governments to create policies, encourage innovation, draw in investments, and spend heavily in digital infrastructure.
“The African Continental Free Trade Area has created the foundation for a profound change in our economic environment, one that will have an impact on the entire continent.
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The figures are self-explanatory. The goal of the AFCFTA is to increase the incomes of approximately 68 million people and rescue about 30 million Africans from the grip of extreme poverty by the year 2035.
According to projections, the agreement will boost intra-African trade by roughly 52%, sparking a surge in economic activity that will add $450 billion to our GDP as a whole.
These aren’t just numbers. These serve as evidence of the potential we possess and the promise of a better future for all Africans. However, in order to fully reap these advantages, we must capitalise on fintech’s and digital innovation’s revolutionary capacity.
By adjusting them to the particular requirements and difficulties of our diverse and vibrant continent, we must embrace the technologies that are reshaping the global economy and make them work for us.
African governments ought to make significant investments in the digital infrastructure that will serve as the foundation for our common prosperity.
Policies must be developed in order to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and draw in capital from both domestic and foreign sources.
In order to break down the silos that have been impeding our development for too long, he said, “we must promote interoperability to minimise transaction costs and delays and we must utilise the power of digital identification projects like Ghana card to increase access to financial services.
