South Sudan’s instant payments push

South Sudan will fully roll out an instant payments system by December, after an initial pilot, to enable faster money transactions.

The system, built by the country’s central bank and nonprofit AfricaNenda, is designed to connect local mobile money providers, including MTN and Zain, with banks, aiming to expand the population’s access to financial services. South Sudan’s target for full functionality by December is “realistic,” Robert Ochola, CEO of AfricaNenda, told Semafor, saying it gave time for more financial service providers to integrate into the network.

South Sudan follows in the footsteps of countries like Ghana and Nigeria whose instant payments frameworks are among the continent’s best, Ochola said. Last year, Lesotho became the latest entrant to the space, bringing the number of African countries with such systems to 20, according to AfricaNenda.