Harvesh Seegolam - Afrikan Heroes

Mauritius Launches Digital Currency Soon

September 29, 2023

Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritius, Harvesh Seegolam

The Bank of Mauritius said plans to launch a central bank digital currency are making strides and it will begin a pilot project in the next couple of months. The Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritius, Harvesh Seegolam said “Work is already at an advanced stage,” adding that “We have now entered the experimentation phase.”

Mauritius originally announced its ambitions to pursue a digital rupee in 2019 and has since taken steps to embrace financial technology including amending the law to allow the central bank to grant digital banking licences. The island also plans to promote itself as a hub for multinationals to set up their treasury headquarters

Seegolam said that there’s “significant interest” in setting up digital banks in Mauritius and there are already a few applications in the pipeline.

He also noted that while the bank had an “open mind” on new technologies, the rapid changes being witnessed in fintech carried risks as well as benefits.

“It is nevertheless imperative for us to have a full grasp of the potential implications on economic activity, financial stability, reputation and even inflation,” he said.

The island also plans to promote itself as a hub for multinationals to set up their treasury headquarters in the region on the basis of its modern financial services sector, he said.

The bulk of the governor’s remarks were focused on the development of financial markets and digital transformation. But he did take time to note that the central bank has significantly scaled back its intervention in foreign exchange markets to US$164-million since the beginning of the year, compared with $622-million in the same period of 2022.

“However, as this period of the year is tantamount to the building of end-of-year stocks, the Bank of Mauritius stands ready to provide support to the FX market in case of need,” he said.

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Bank of Mauritius To Launch Its Digital Currency Soon

May 14, 2020

The wave of digital currencies may be billowing but hopes are already high across the world. Mauritius may be toeing the path of its African counterpartTunisia in announcing plans to roll out its own version of digital currency. Although this is merely more of a hint than certainty, Central Bank Governor Harvesh Seegolam said the Republic of Mauritius would be embarking on a pilot in the near future, though he declined to share many details.

“At the level of the Bank of Mauritius, we’re currently working on a project and very shortly we’ll be making announcements … with respect to a potential introduction of a CBDC,” he said.

Here Is What You Need To Know

Seegolam’s comments are further consolidating on former Governor, Yandraduth Googoolye’s enquiry into the issuance of a CBDC, earlier reported in November last year during his tenure. Mauritius has to be some of the few African countries progressively leaning towards crypto-saviness. Last year, the East African country created a licensing regime granting licenses to digital asset custodians. The country also rolled out guidance on security tokens the same year.
For countries still afraid of the role of digital currencies in their financial systems, Bank of Mauritius is offering them a clue of how the two systems can co-exist. According to Seegolam CBDC, their version of digital currencies would be distributed through the country’s established banking system, even if the central bank issues the actual currency. This, according to him would avoid the risk of destabilizing the country’s financial system.
However, Seegolam said the country is not in a hurry to launch its CBDC.

Countries ranked by economic freedom. Source

“I think we are in a phase where we are all thinking about CBDCs, we are all very interested in introducing CBDCs but there are key fundamental questions that have to be answered first for us to be able to proceed,” Seegolam said. “These are not stumbling blocks, they are just questions on which we need answers to make it work in a more efficient manner.”

In early November, 2019, Tunisia‘s central bank announced that the digitization of the Tunisian dinar had officially started, and that the Tunisian central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be issued on the blockchain Universa. By this move, Tunisia would be the first country to start moving its national currency on a blockchain platform. News agency Tass reported that Russian startup ICO Universa will help the nation to issue and manage the digital currency, e-Dinar.

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