Mauritius plans to launch the pilot phase of a digital rupee in November, Bank of Mauritius governor Harvesh Kumar Seegolam announced. Many of the parameters of the perspective central bank digital currency (CBDC) are already in place.
Consultations with International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts began the same year and resulted in the production of a feasibility report. According to Seegolam, Mauritius was the first country to benefit from IMF technical assistance with its CBDC project.
The Bank of Mauritius set up a sandbox with an unnamed partner in December to explore potential features and “craft the Digital rupee based on the Mauritian specificities.”
The digital rupee should be “a payment instrument to be made available to one and all” that will be intermediated to “ensure that commercial banks continue to be fully-involved in our CBDC journey.” It will also make monetary policy easier to manage and support financial stability, Seegolam said. The digital rupee will be interest free.
(by Derek Andersen)
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