IMF head: CBDCs can replace cash, help financial inclusion

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged the public sector to “keep preparing to deploy” central bank digital currencies.

During her opening speech at the Singapore FinTech Festival, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged the public sector to “keep preparing to deploy” central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and related payment platforms in the future.

Georgieva expressed her optimism toward the implementation of CBDCs around the globe, although making a reservation that “we have not yet reached the land” and there is still much uncertainty:

“Adoption of CBDCs is nowhere close. But about 60 percent of countries are exploring them in some form today.”

The executive believes that CBDCs can replace cash, offer resilience in advanced economies and improve financial inclusion in the underbanked communities. According to Georgieva, CBDCs can co-exist with “private money,” being its “safe and low-cost alternative.”

Georgieva also highlighted the importance of technological infrastructure in CBDC projects, personal data protection and even the possible role of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing the national digital currencies. She put a particular emphasis on cross-border payment support:

“To the extent CBDCs are deployed, they must be built to facilitate cross-border payments, which are at present expensive, slow, and available to few. Again, we must start this work today so we don’t have to backpedal tomorrow.”

The IMF head presented its CBDC virtual handbook and marked the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) role in the public sector’s digital money experiments.

The IMF has recently been active in its analysis of necessary crypto regulations. On Sept. 29, it proposed a crypto-risk assessment matrix (C-RAM) for countries to spot indicators and triggers of potential risks in the sector.

The IMF’s Synthesis paper — jointly prepared with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) — was unanimously adopted by the “G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Communique” in October.

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