| Project Detail |
Approval Date 17 Mar 2023
Planned Completion Date 31 Dec 2026
Last Disbursement Planned Date 31 Dec 2026
Sovereign / Non-Sovereign Sovereign
Sector Finance
DAC Sector Code 24030
Commitment U.A 2,910,000
Status Approved
Project General Description
The proposed project seeks to address the current inefficiencies in two key CBL payment systems, the ACP/ACH and the RTGS, as well as the main and recovery site data centres. The project aims to upgrade the aforementioned systems and infrastructure to acceptable industry standard and facilitate the implementation of a National Electronic Payment Switch. It will primarily impact the CBL and government ministries involved in payments, as well as commercial banks and their customers, all of whom will experience improved services. A secondary but critical outcome of the primary development objective will be increased inclusion and fostering of regional integration through technological upgrade required standards. The project will, in turn, enable the banks and non-banks to build customer confidence and greater reach, by developing additional financial services such as digital loans, savings, insurance, etc. Increased demand for digital financial services, in turn, means there will be demand for other solutions such as ecommerce platforms. It has four main components, namely: (1) the upgrade of the Automated Cheque Processing (ACP) and Automated Clearing House (ACH); (2) the upgrade of the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system; (3) the upgrade of the climate-resilient and energy-efficient Main Data Centre and Disaster Recovery Site; and (4) the project management.
Project Objectives
Liberia’s Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD) 2018 to 2023 and National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2019-2023 both seek to augment inclusion through increased access to finance and improved infrastructure. As one of the WAMZ countries, Liberia also subscribes to the agenda for greater integration through modernisation of payment systems. The project’s primary objective is to strengthen the payments ecosystem in Liberia for increased efficiency.
Beneficiaries
The primary beneficiaries are the Central Bank of Liberia, bank and select nonbank institutions. It will help the Central Bank of Liberia to improve its services to its customers (banks and non-banks). This will build confidence in the system. Once the full suite of systems is operational (ACH/ACP, RTGS, DR Site and NEPs), it will enable the creation of a robust credit bureau and linkage to the national ID project. Banks and non-banks can execute KYC processes and extend digital financial services such as micro loans, savings, pension, secured and unsecured lending (leveraging data score) etc., to MSMEs, farmers and other unbanked populations in Liberia. |
