The Reserve Bank of India on Monday confirmed plans to link BRICS central bank digital currencies. For Africa, this is a credible route out of the decades-long dollar dependency that has constrained growth, distorted trade, and amplified every external shock.
The proposal builds on the BIS mBridge programme and bilateral CBDC pilots involving China, the UAE, and Thailand. Crucially, the architecture under discussion is not a single shared currency. It is a multi-CBDC bridge designed to allow sovereign digital currencies to interoperate while remaining fully under national control.
Each central bank would issue and manage its own CBDC on domestic infrastructure. These systems would connect to a shared settlement layer through standardised APIs and messaging protocols.
Transactions would rely on atomic settlement. Payment and delivery occur simultaneously, removing credit risk, float, and intermediaries.
Yet the opportunity comes with an unmistakable warning label. The same move that promises greater monetary autonomy also risks triggering retaliation from the United States, including the threat of blanket 100 per cent tariffs.
Escaping Africa’s Long Dollar Drought
For decades, African economies have lived with chronic “dollar hunger.” From Nigeria’s recurring foreign-exchange crises to Egypt’s serial devaluations, access to US dollars has acted as a silent but relentless tax on trade.
Even transactions between neighbouring African states often require dollar settlement through correspondent banks in New York or London. This drains reserves, inflates transaction costs, and exposes domestic economies to policy decisions made far beyond the continent.
Integrated with existing infrastructure such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, the BRICS proposal directly addresses this constraint. A linked network of sovereign digital currencies, including the e-Rupee, China’s digital yuan, and potentially African CBDCs such as the e-Naira, would allow direct settlement between currencies.
This is not ideological de-dollarisation. It is functional de-dollarisation, enabled by blockchain-based atomic settlement.
Crucially, the bridge can sit above existing African systems. PAPSS would act as a regional access layer, routing African payments into the BRICS bridge when trade extends beyond the continent. Africa’s institutional ownership is preserved, while its global reach expands dramatically.
This gives PAPSS what it has so far lacked: a credible global outlet. Integrated with a BRICS CBDC bridge, Africa effectively plugs into a parallel financial internet that bypasses Western correspondent banking rails altogether.
The difference is tangible. Traditional cross-border systems rely on netting and batch settlement, often taking days. A CBDC bridge operates continuously. For an African SME, payment could arrive in seconds rather than days. Liquidity improves. Risk falls. Working-capital cycles shorten. At scale, this is how trade volumes grow.
Governance and Africa’s Leverage
The emerging structure points to a tiered governance model. Core technical standards would be agreed multilaterally, likely under a BRICS monetary working group with BIS-style observer input. Operational control would remain decentralised, with each central bank validating transactions involving its own currency.
Settlement nodes would be geographically distributed to avoid single points of failure or political leverage.
This is where Africa’s leverage lies. By insisting that PAPSS is recognised as a gateway node, African states embed themselves in the governance fabric of the system rather than joining as passive users.
That distinction will determine whether the bridge becomes shared infrastructure or a new digital hierarchy imposed from outside.
What Would Success Mean for Citizens?
If the system works as intended, its impact will not be confined to central banks or trade ministries. It will be felt in prices, jobs, and household stability.
Lower transaction costs feed directly into cheaper imports. Fuel, fertiliser, medicines, and electronics sourced from BRICS partners become less expensive. Currency volatility driven by sudden dollar shortages eases.
For small businesses, especially exporters, the change is transformative. Faster settlement improves cash flow. Narrower FX spreads raise margins. A Kenyan coffee cooperative or an Egyptian textile firm no longer has to price in days of payment delay and dollar conversion risk. Survival and scale become more achievable.
The structure of remittances would also change. Migrant workers sending money between BRICS countries could bypass expensive dollar-based corridors. Funds arrive instantly in local digital wallets at a fraction of current fees.
The Tariff Wall and the Risk of Replacement Hegemons
The promise of digital sovereignty collides head-on with Washington’s hardening stance. President Donald Trump has been explicit that serious efforts to undermine the dollar’s global role will be met with “maximum economic force.”
For Africa’s BRICS members, South Africa, Egypt, and Ethiopia, the dilemma is acute.
The digital bridge offers lower costs, faster trade, and greater monetary autonomy. It also risks exclusion from the US market. South Africa is particularly exposed. Already facing targeted tariffs on citrus and automotive exports, a blanket 100 per cent tariff would be economically devastating.
Africa faces another risk it cannot ignore. Escaping dollar dominance must not mean drifting into a new form of dependency. If technical standards or core infrastructure are effectively controlled by Beijing or New Delhi, one hegemon simply replaces another.
That places a heavy responsibility on Africa’s anchor states. Open, interoperable, and transparent standards are not optional. They are strategic necessities if this bridge is to serve Africa, rather than rule it.