Boosting the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System

This policy brief argues that South Africa should use its 2025 G20 presidency to advance African-driven digital public infrastructure (DPI), specifically the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS). The author suggests aligning PAPSS with the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments to improve the speed, cost, and transparency of intra-African and global trade.

• South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency provides a strategic opportunity to support the G20 Cross-border Payments Programme and advance African initiatives like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Protocol on Digital Trade, especially since the African Union (AU) is now a full G20 member.
• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is defined by three core components: digital identity for unique identification, digital payments for inclusive financial transactions, and data exchange for secure sharing via open standards. DPI is intended to reduce inequality, improve health data integration, and foster economic growth.
• The G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments, approved in November 2020 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, aims to make international payments more affordable, quicker, transparent, and accessible by 2027. The 2023 update focuses on regulatory frameworks, cross-border data exchange, and payment system interoperability.
• PAPSS has the potential to serve as an early exemplar of the G20 Roadmap by enabling instant payments between different local African currencies, thereby increasing the volume of cross-border payments supported by the AfCFTA agreement.
• The author recommends that South Africa lead efforts to align PAPSS with the work of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), while partnering with African central banks and the Association of African Central Banks (AACB) to harmonize regulatory frameworks.
• PAPSS is expanding beyond the African continent to improve trade efficiency with external partners, evidenced by a Memorandum of Understanding with the Arab Monetary Fund and adoption by all 11 central banks of the Caribbean Community.

APA

Muleya, T. (2024). Boosting the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SAIIA_PN_6_G20PAPSSAfCFTA.pdf

Chicago

Muleya, Thabelo. Boosting the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2024. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SAIIA_PN_6_G20PAPSSAfCFTA.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Muleya |first1=Thabelo |title=Boosting the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=6 September 2024 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SAIIA_PN_6_G20PAPSSAfCFTA.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{muleya2024boosting, author = {Muleya, Thabelo}, title = {{Boosting the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/SAIIA_PN_6_G20PAPSSAfCFTA.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }