Express
New Zealand Not Ready to Create Its Own Digital Currency
Summary: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Assistant Governor said today that although the central bank continues to research a central bank digital currency—a state-issued digital currency—it has “no immediate plans to launch a CBDC in New Zealand.” “CBDCs present a range of high-level benefits and challenges,” said Christian Hawkesby at the annual conference of the ...
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Assistant Governor said today that although the central bank continues to research a central bank digital currency—a state-issued digital currency—it has “no immediate plans to launch a CBDC in New Zealand.”
“CBDCs present a range of high-level benefits and challenges,” said Christian Hawkesby at the annual conference of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand. Among the benefits are increasing access to cash and promoting financial inclusion.
New Zealand has been exploring CBDCs since at least 2018, when it published a bulletin titled “The pros and cons of issuing a central bank digital currency.” A January report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) showed that over 80% of the world’s central banks are looking into CBDCs.
In his speech today, Hawkesby summarized the BIS findings on why countries look into CBDCs: because of declining use of physical cash, an overreliance on physical cash that leaves too many people outside the financial system, or a sense that foreign or private currencies are becoming prevalent.
By Amy Liu
Tags: currency,Digital,New Zealand
Link: New Zealand Not Ready to Create Its Own Digital Currency [Copy]
