By Dotse Ashiadey
Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has said intra-African transactions must no longer rely on external financial systems, warning that this continues to increase costs and delay trade across the continent.
Speaking at the 3i Africa Summit 2026 in Accra on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, where fintech leaders from across Africa gathered, she stressed that routing payments through systems outside the continent undermines efforts to build a strong and unified African market.
“In many cases, intra-African transactions are still routed through financial systems outside the continent and denominated in third currencies. This adds costs and delays and weakens the idea of a single African market,” she said.
The Vice-President noted that Africa must shift focus from how it is described to how it organises itself to compete, integrate and build strong economic systems.
She explained that Ghana’s role as a gateway to Africa should not only be about location, but also about how efficiently transactions are processed, how quickly businesses connect, and how stable markets operate.
According to her, economic sovereignty in Africa now depends on integration, particularly digital integration, where value is created and exchanged.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang said Africa has already demonstrated its ability to leapfrog traditional systems through mobile money, digital identity and financial technology, but must now scale these efforts across the continent.
She outlined four key areas needed to achieve this integration: payments, identity systems, regulation and infrastructure.
On payments, she highlighted ongoing efforts such as the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System, which aims to make cross-border transactions faster and more affordable.
She also referenced the African Union’s digital trade protocol adopted in 2024, which supports mobile money interoperability and cross-border electronic transactions.
The Vice-President stressed that a functional digital economy requires trusted identity systems, noting that many Africans still lack verifiable digital identities, limiting their ability to participate in cross-border trade.
She further called for better regulatory coordination across countries, stating that while laws do not need to be identical, they must be compatible to reduce costs and support innovation.
