Zimbabwean Central Bank has shared a survey form for the people to share their views on the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency). According to a statement by the Zimbabwean central bank, it is "conducting a CBDC Consumer Survey to collect feedback on the design and character of the CBDC and its overall acceptance by the public."
The results would only be used for study on the design, the bank stated, and the information received through this procedure will be "kept with the highest confidentiality."
This news was made official on 10 November through Twitter and contained the form link attached to the Twitter post. The post included the time limit for people to submit their opinion up to 7 December 2022. This gives an indication of the possibility of the Zimbabwe CBDC being launched in early 2023.
Only a few months after the RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) announced it would release a paper to launch a public consultation process, the consumer survey has officially begun.
Only a few months after the RBZ announced it would release a paper to launch a public consultation process, the consumer survey has officially begun.
According to the Zimbabwean central bank, if the residents or the stakeholders got involved in it this will help to foster "a broad and transparent public dialogue around the potential benefits and hazards of CBDC.
RBZ stated that: -
“Please note that the information you are going to provide will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and the results will only be used for purposes of research on the design, nature, and acceptability of CBDC in Zimbabwe.”
The survey included multiple questions related to the CBDC as participants are asked to describe the difference between a CBDC and the standard Zimbabwe dollar Participants are also asked to rate how likely it is that they will utilize digital currencies or to explain whether or not they would use the virtual Zimbabwe dollar.
The RBZ also wants participants to choose between the CBDC and cryptocurrencies in addition to rating the significance of several attributes like privacy, transparency, and transaction speed.
Countries with CBDC other than Zimbabwe
So many countries are working on creating their own CBDC including India as well. If we talk about African countries Nigeria was the first African nation to introduce a CBDC in October 2021, which they called the e-Naira. Within a year after its launch, 700 000 transactions have been completed utilizing the e-Naira.
When compared to the 1.4 billion transactions made through Nigeria's NIBSS Instant Payment system, it is a relatively low number. Although it's still in the pilot stage and new technology, this will probably become the norm in Zimbabwe.
In Africa only, 15 countries are working on developing the CBDC and out of these Nigeria and Ghana are the only ones with the central banks rolled out pilots.
While central banks around the world issue digital currencies for a variety of reasons. There are several perks that could be particularly significant for the region.
The first is increasing financial inclusion since CBDCs, particularly if made for offline use, might provide financial services to persons who did not previously have bank accounts.
Simple feature phones can be used to conduct digital transactions for little to no cost in rural locations without access to the internet. Particularly during abrupt crises like a pandemic or natural disaster, CBDC can be utilized to give targeted government benefits.
By reducing the length of the payment chain and increasing competition among service providers. They can also facilitate cross-border transfers and payments and could make sending remittances simpler, quicker, and less expensive.
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