By Kenton X. Chance
ABUJA, Nigeria (CMC) — The Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has successfully piloted the Caribbean version of its payment system that allows businesses in countries that use different currencies to trade without needing a third currency.
“We’re calling it PAPPS (The Pan-African Payments and Settlement System) in Africa. So in the Caribbean, it’s the Caribbean Payment and Settlement System (CAPSS),” said Okechukwu Ihejirika, the acting chief operating officer at the Barbados-based Caribbean Office at Afreximbank.
CAPSS is a digital financial infrastructure that facilitates real-time, cross-border payments in domestic currencies, eliminating the need for United States dollars or other third-party currencies in trade transactions
“Indeed, this is one of the success stories that we are also announcing because when we say that Africa and the Caribbean, we’re not just historically and culturally connected, we also connected in terms of the kind of challenges that we have to deal with,” Ihejirika told Caribbean journalists at the 32nd annual meetings of Afreximbank (AAM2025) taking place here through Saturday.
He said that problems or solutions found in one area — Africa or the Caribbean — would work in the other and that PAPPS came about because Africans needed to create a platform that facilitates intra-regional trade in local currencies.
“And when we came to the Caribbean, we saw that there was a similar problem there, and there’s no doubt that it was actually welcomed with both hands by the committee of central bank governors,” he said, referring to PAPPS.
He said there was a proof of concept in February from the central banks of The Bahamas and Barbados to confirm that CAPS can work.
“And I’m happy to announce that it was a resounding success, that proof of concept,” he said, adding that Afreximbank now need to do a full-scale pilot.
“And what the central bank governors have agreed is to expand the pilot, make it as real as possible, as close as possible to real-life experience, bringing not only countries that have fixed currencies to a US dollar but those also who are a bit floating.”
Ihejirika said that once that pilot is successful, “we hit the road straight up and have CAPS launched; and we believe that it’s not going to take time at all.”
Since 2022, at least 12 of the 15 member Caribbean Community (CARICOM countries have acceded to the partnership agreement between and among CARICOM countries and Afreximbank.
Ihejirika said that Afreximbank is interested in doing business with all CARICOM countries, adding that the bank was hopeful that it would be welcoming Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, two of the largest economies in the Caribbean, as members.
“We’re looking at the pipeline of almost two billion US dollars,” Ihejirika said, noting that Afreximbank announced last month US$500 million in deals with an entity in Suriname.
“And all this goes to portray the point that we mean business in what we are going to do. We want to see aflow of capital into the Caribbean from Africa and vice versa. And want to promote it with all that we have.”
Ihejirika said that Afreximbank’s Caribbean office will be announcing about US$200 million in deals over the next two months and that the bank had a roadshow in Guyana two weeks ago dedicating one billion US dollars to business in that country.
“Last week, we were at the Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition, and the bank also announced that we’ll be happy to support up to five billion US dollars … for local Surinamese…
“So we are talking about US$1.5 billion. Now you see, US$1.5 is historical. Now, like the board is magnanimous, we come to them say, ‘These are where we see the opportunities and identify with us.’
“So it’s something that’s been gradually ramping up. And what that goes to justify that is the fact that this is indeed an idea whose time has come, and when that happens, nobody, absolutely, nobody can stop it, and then it grows …” Ihejirika told reporters.