The Panafrican Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) will benefit from a $3 billion donation from the enabling intra-African trade in the same currency African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

"We have made available three billion dollars in a financial instrument for African central banks, which will thus have resources to ensure stability and predictability in financial flows" said this Thursday, the bank's president, Benedict Oramah.

The official also revealed that Afreximbank has negotiated with 500 banks "giving them services and commercial support to guarantee the launch of credit lines up to $8 billion, which today stands at $2 billion."

The announcement of the figures took place within the framework of the launch of the PAPSS, a financial mechanism that allows commercial exchanges between African countries in the same currency.

With the PAPSS, launched in partnership with the African Union, trade between African companies will dispense with the exchange of currencies so that the producer receives in his currency while the consumer also pays in his currency, through a financial infrastructure that allows automatic payments using two different currencies in two countries.

In the view of Afreximbank's president, access to hard currencies like the dollar or euro is difficult for African countries. "No wonder intra-African trade levels are so low."

The PAPSS "can transform Africa's financial landscape because it is a milestone and represents another step towards restoring the dignity of Africans by making payments more effective and strengthening African currencies."

The system starts to be operational as of today.