The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) is planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border and domestic use in the first stage of its financial infrastructure transformation (FIT) programme. The CBUAE announced the launch of the FIT programme on 12 February 2023. According to the announcement, the programme comprises nine key initiatives aimed at supporting the country’s financial services sector, promoting digital transactions and enabling the UAE’s competitiveness as a financial and digital payment hub. The issue of a CBDC is intended to address the problems and inefficiency of cross-border payments and to help drive innovation for domestic payments. Apart from a CBDC, the CBUAE is also proposing to launch a unified card payment platform and an instant payments platform during the first stage of the programme.
Sources: https://cutt.ly/W3TJbyn
