At least 40 African countries print their money in the UK, France and Germany — decades after independence, raising questions about self-sufficiency. DW examines what prompts them to outsource their currency production.
Africans Cannot Print Their Own Money Because of Security Issues
Ekeruche said some individual countries attempting to produce their own currencies could fall victim to corrupt officials or hackers who might attempt to forge or manipulate them. In many cases, outsourcing is more secure.
Even with importing, there can be challenges. Containers of Liberian dollars shipped from Sweden disappeared in 2018, although the government later accounted for it.
Meanwhile, firms like De La Rue have existed for hundreds of years, mass-producing for central banks across the world.
They have the tools and experience to keep up to date with currency innovations, such as polymer which is considered cleaner, more durable and more secure than paper, with the plastic material allowing the inclusion of more sophisticated features to protect against counterfeits.
Why Not Print the Notes in Africa?
African countries have been formulating plans to boost intra-African trade. There is currently more trade with Western and Eastern countries than there is within the continent.
Printing banknotes in Africa would boost profits on the continent and, at least theoretically, African countries could choose those with printing capabilities since there's likely some idle capacity.
But that is not happening in practice. "That’s due to trust issues between the countries," said Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, a former deputy chief with the Ghanaian central bank, and because many have been printing with overseas firms for years.
And there's the complicated case of Francophone Africa — the countries using the Central African CFA franc and the West African CFA franc. The currencies are tightly pegged to the euro because of colonial relations and are produced in France.
Still, there's hope that change could be on the horizon. If that happens at scale, it could cut shipping costs drastically.
So, after independence, why our leaders don't want to wind themselves from the west?
By: dw.com