The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that by allowing unbanked people with cell phones to access e-naira in Nigeria, 90% of the population will adopt virtual currency.
In a recently released report titled “Five Observations on Nigeria’s Central Bank Digital Currency”, the international financial institution indicated that Nigeria is a large informal economy where the majority of the population has no accounts. banking.
The IMF has mentioned that e-naira should improve financial inclusion if the informal sector (majority of people without bank accounts) is involved.
However, the monetary institution regrets that for the moment the e-naira wallet is provided only to people with bank accounts, but its coverage should eventually extend to anyone with a mobile phone, even if they do not have Bank account.
According to IMF statistics, in Nigeria 38 million people do not have bank accounts, a rate of 36% of the adult population.
Greater involvement of the informal sector in e-naira, he said, should help increase financial inclusion. This will have the consequence of facilitating a more direct and efficient implementation of social transfer programs.
Meanwhile, the document reveals that e-naira would bring greater transparency to informal payments and strengthen the country’s tax base.
As a reminder, Nigeria has a large informal economy, with transactions and jobs equivalent, respectively, to more than half of GDP and 80% of employment.