Kiosk360. Awareness of the implications of digital currency on cross-border payments has strengthened collaboration between central banks to identify the axes of a common policy vis-à-vis these new currencies. Bank Al-Maghrib acts. This article is a press review taken from the daily Les Inspirations Eco.
A Digital Central Bank Currency (MDBC). This is the idea that is currently germinating within Bank Al-Maghrib. The central bank has set up a committee to study the advisability, methods and consequences of issuing such a currency. Rest assured, it’s not for tomorrow. But we come a long way. Currently, the very idea of a crypto-currency has right of citizenship, whereas it was completely prohibited (in the texts) until now.
“The year 2021 has been marked by a strong acceleration in the development and trading of crypto assets. The capitalization of the latter almost quadrupled between the end of 2020 and the end of 2021 to reach nearly 3,000 billion dollars”, notes Eco Inspirations.
According to the newspaper, Bank Al-Maghrib is part of a proactive approach. A broad consultation process has been set up with all the stakeholders. The central bank monitors the evolution of crypto assets in recent years as well as the attitude of other central banks and acts accordingly.
“According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which conducts an annual survey on the subject, 90% of central banks that responded to the 2021 edition said they had projects at more or less advanced stages to explore the opportunity to set up an MDBC”, informs us the daily. Highlight: this percentage was 65% in 2017 and 86% in 2020, knowing that in 2014, only the central bank of Uruguay had initiated such a reflection.
“In addition, the awareness of the implications of such a currency on cross-border payments has strengthened collaboration between central banks to identify the axes of a common policy vis-à-vis these new currencies”. There is therefore a stake for the Kingdom.
The central bank is right to temper, but the interest enjoyed by MDBCs is explained by the potential they hold in terms of financial innovation, financial inclusion, cost reduction and transaction times.
“They could also help improve decision-making in monetary policy, mitigate the financial cost and ecological impact of fiat money and contribute to the fight against terrorist financing and money laundering” , says the daily.