24 January 2020
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Bahrain's Central Bank is to pilot a new toolkit developed by the World Economic Forum to check the effect of usage of digital currency in its economy.
The Swiss non-profit, that comprises some of the world's largest companies, developed the framework—called the "CBDC Policy-Maker Toolkit"—with over a dozen central banks, as well as many financial institutions, academic researchers and international organizations.
"We will pilot the new toolkit developed by the World Economic Forum", said Rasheed Al Maraj, governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain.
We hope that it will be an opportunity to learn, grow and to adapt to the changes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution"
"We hope that it will be an opportunity to learn, grow and to adapt to the changes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution," he added.
The new toolkit was announced at Davos, Switzerland, where the WEF is hosting its annual forum that brings together heads of state and CEOs of some of the world's largest companies.
The new framework is supposed to "lay common groundwork" for central banks, and to help them create "stable support stable, efficient and inclusive global systems that might include CBDCs," according to a statement.
The framework of the toolkit recognizes that a CBDC, and not only that, could increase the speed and efficiency of international interbank payments, while reducing costs, also the counterparty and settlement risks.
WEF says it can furthermore enhance reporting and transmission of financial data, not to mention that it can simplify traceability. The announcement says that before implementing a CBDC, solutions to economic friction should be found, whereas investments in system resilience and cybersecurity should be made.
The Bank of Thailand will also be testing the toolkit.
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