Zambia’s science and technology minister, Felix Mutati, said that the country aimed to have finished tests replicating real-world cryptocurrency usage by the end of June in order to help it develop laws that strike a balance between people’s safety and innovation.
Mutati said in an interview on Wednesday that before cryptocurrencies can be deployed, the southern African country needs digital infrastructure, including digital IDs.
When the Central African Republic proclaimed bitcoin legal tender and released its own cryptocurrency token last year, investors were taken aback. Some African nations, though, have been more cautious; for example, Nigeria has prohibited banks from handling crypto assets.
According to Mutati, “the key goal in the realm of cryptocurrency is to achieve a balance between innovation in terms of digital payments… and people’s safety,” particularly given cryptocurrencies’ extreme volatility.
“The Fed is experimenting with various consequences by simulating such a scenario. We may utilize the information to help us create the regulation.”
The failure of exchange FTX and many other companies last year caused the value of digital currencies to plummet, but they have recovered some of their losses this year.
When asked whether any projects he oversaw had been delayed, postponed, or abandoned as a result of Zambia’s lengthy debt restructuring, Mutati responded, “What we are experiencing is rising excitement to invest in Zambia.”
Zambia, which was the first African country to fail in the COVID-19 era in 2020, risks losing advantages obtained via economic reforms if the restructuring of $18.6 billion in foreign debt is delayed further, according to the country’s Treasury secretary on Wednesday.
According to government estimates, the bulk of Zambia’s foreign debt is owned by Chinese creditors, who have been accused by certain Western officials of slowing down the restructuring process.
Mutati said that the conditions of Chinese loans were discussed on a project-by-project basis during his tenure as finance minister from 2016 to 2018.
He alleges that using a $1 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, state power operator Zesco approached Sinohydro about building the Kafue Lower Gorge hydropower project.
He said that when Chinese investors established the Chambishi economic zone, the government opened the new Lusaka international airport.
