Namibia will soon launch a new payment system based on Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India Ultra -less Immediate payment protocol.
A year ago, the Bank of Namibia and International Payments Limited (NPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), signed a partnership to develop the new system. A week ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the southern African nation to seal the deal.
After the visit, a statement from external issues the Ministry revealed that the rollout is scheduled for September.
With three million inhabitants, Namibia is one of Africa’s minor nations. The government has operated digital payments In recent years and last year the market Hit $ 1.4 billion in value. Namibian companies rely mainly on transfers of electronic funds, a sector that listed $ 68 billion in transaction value last year.
UPI would significantly increase this rapidly growing market. The system was launched nine years ago One of the world’s largest payment infrastructureswith over 500 million active users. In May, it registered 25.14 Lakh Crore ($ 294 billion) in monthly transaction value.
Recently, that Hit 650 million daily transactionsexceeds visas (Nasdaq: v) as the world’s leading real -time payment system.
A new report on International Monetary Fund (IMF) revealed The UPI is now processing over 18 billion transactions each month and drives India to the top of the Global Fast Payment race.
“India is now making faster payments than any other country. At the same time, a representative for cash use (such as ATM withdrawals) has fallen,” said the IMF.
UPI has expanded beyond India and is now available in seven other countries, including Sri Lanka and Singapore. It has also expanded to the United Arab Emirates, improved local payments and increased cross -border transfers between the two nations. The corridor of the UAE India is one of the busiest for Gulf Nation; Over seven million Indians visited the United Arab Emirates last month, its largest group of international visitors.
Back in Namibia, the new UPI-based system will play an important role in trade between the two nations and grows from $ 3 million at the millennium to $ 600 million. Several Indian companies strive for business interests throughout Namibia in manufacturing, mining and services.
While Namibia is the only African country with a formal agreement to integrate UPI, others also explore partnerships.
In his visit to Ghana earlier this month, Prime Minister Modi promised his government’s commitment to integrate the payment system into the West African nation.
“In the field of fintech, India is ready to share its experience of UPI digital payments with Ghana,” he abandoned.
Rwanda and Mozambique are also reportedly similar to similar partnerships. However, India’s largest trading partner on the continent is South Africa, with the bilateral trade volume that beat $ 19 billion in 2024.
South Africa launches its first digital ID system
Elsewhere, the South African government will launch its first digital ID system to modernize government services.
Minister of the Interior Leon Schreiber revealed Last week, his ministry has worked with a digital ID policy, which will soon be handed over to the cabinet for approval before he seeks public feedback.
With a digital ID, South Africans will easily access government services on all smart units and limit the need to visit government offices. It will be built on top of the existing Smart ID framework, which relies on features such as Biometric data To increase security, but as the minister says, five times more vulnerable to fraud than the new system is.
Schreiber added that the new digital ID will affect other sectors that rely on identity verification in addition to government services.
“(The) digital ID will also enable users to authenticate themselves and lay the foundation for a digital revolution not only for government services, but also for critical private services such as banking, finance and insurance,” he told legislators while presenting his department’s budget.
South Africa joins a dozen other African countries that strive for digital ID. Ethiopia recently set a goal of 90 million digital ID over the next two years, while Namibia intends to launch its new system next year. Nigeria and Zambia have done that too Launched Similar initiatives in collaboration with the World Bank.
See: Tech redefines how things are done – Africa is here for it
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