The Governor of the Bank of Mauritius spoke at a recent event where he outlined the central bank’s plans for a CBDC and its impact on the country’s economy.
A recent workshop of central banks technologists from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank witnessed the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius making a keynote speech on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and the country’s plans to adopt a digital form of its currency.
Titled ‘The Future of Central Bank Money in a Digital World,’ the workshop saw Governor Harvesh Kumar Seegolam starting his speech by underlining the importance of CBDCs in the functioning of economies worldwide.
Mentioning the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) handbook on CBDCs published in the previous week, Governor Seegolam spoke about his contribution to the panel with Mauritius’s experience. He then went on to detail his central bank’s plans for a CBDC.
“We, at the Bank of Mauritius, have adopted a prudent and cautious approach when we embarked on our CBDC journey. In the preliminary stage, in mid-2020, the bank interacted with experts from different units of the IMF who provided opportunities to strengthen our team’s analytical and technological capability through brainstorming workshops,” said the Governor.
After setting up a sandbox in December 2022, the Bank of Mauritius plans to introduce a digital rupee by November 2023. The bank would then explore options of using the digital rupee for cross-border transactions to meet the goals of the G20 of seamless international transactions.
He also revealed that the central bank had been invited by a Commonwealth initiative for the promotion of AI and technology.