The Georgian Central Bank has stated its intention to publish a document outlining the concept of a national digital currency (Georgian Lari), which will be used by stakeholders to complete their proposal for the pilot, billed to begin in the first half of the year.
The launch of the pilot testing of the Georgian Lari, which has been proposed to take place in the coming months was initially intended to hold last year but was later postponed by the National Bank of Georgia (NBG).
Subsequently, the Vice Governor of the NBG, Papuna Lezhava stated that different proposal trials have been approved for the launch of the Georgian Lari. However, no decision has been made on whether to proceed with the project’s implementation.
The NBG started conceiving the idea of a CBDC launch in 2021 while stating in a press release that it needs to leverage digital technologies to promote efficiencies of various payment procedures and financial inclusion.
In addition, the NBG highlighted the Georgian Lari will be used to process faster payment transactions and the services provided by commercial banks and third parties will not be required to conduct Digital Lari transactions.
The Growing Acclaim of CBDC Across the Globe
The use of a CBDC is becoming quite acceptable and popular among different Central Banks for a variety of reasons. One reason is that this new money can help to improve financial inclusion by providing access to digital financial services for individuals and businesses that may not have access to traditional banking services.
Additionally, CDBCs can also help to improve monetary policy by giving central banks more control over the money supply and the ability to conduct real-time transactions.
As a result of these significant advantages, many countries have decided to establish a CBDC. For example, the State Bank of Pakistan has announced plans to begin producing its own CBDC by 2025 in order to reduce financial inefficiencies and corruption.
In December, The National Bank of Kazakhstan also announced its intention to begin testing and implementing its digital currency, known as Digital Tenge. Kazakhstan hopes that its research into CBDC adoption will encourage competition and new ideas in the payment sector, and boost the country’s competitiveness on a global scale.
The Bank of England also joined the CBDC trend by opening an application based on a proof of concept for a sample wallet for its proposed CBDC, the Digital Pound.
