A quiet financial revolution is currently underway in Africa, and this time the focus is neither oil nor military overthrows nor super powers. It is payments. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) is expanding across an increasingly larger portion of the continent, enabling banks and businesses in different African countries to conduct cross-border transactions in local currencies without requiring the traditional intermediate conversion into dollars or another third currency each time. PAPSS itself describes the system as an infrastructure that enables payments within seconds and reduces the need for external financial intermediaries. The latest major move came from Central Africa. The Bank of Central African States (BEAC), the central bank of the six CEMAC nations, officially joined PAPSS in July 2026, opening the door to connecting an entire monetary zone to the pan-African network. And just like that, an old, politically charged idea returns: Can Africa conduct its trade using its own financial mechanisms, without depending to the same extent on the dollar, the euro, and Western banks?
The major shift: Payments without mandatory routing through the dollar
For decades, a business in one African country wanting to pay a supplier in another country on the continent could face a bizarre procedure. Even if both businesses were located in Africa, the transaction could require converting money into an international currency and utilizing correspondent banks outside the continent. This translates to more stages. Higher fees. Foreign exchange costs. And longer completion times. PAPSS attempts to change precisely that. The official description of the system states that it enables cross-border transactions in African local currencies, with the sender paying in their own currency and the recipient receiving the corresponding amount in theirs. And here lies the true "bomb shell." PAPSS does not eliminate the dollar from the African economy. It does not eliminate the euro. However, for specific intra-African transactions, it attempts to achieve something extraordinarily important: To make them far less necessary.
BEAC entered the game, opening Central Africa's door
The integration of BEAC is considered pivotal because this specific central bank serves Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, and Chad. According to the official PAPSS announcement, this accession provides the network with a strategic entry into Central and francophone Africa. PAPSS also announced that it will collaborate with BEAC through the end of 2026 for the operational implementation of its participation and the gradual integration of CEMAC financial institutions. This implies that it is not merely a political signature. It represents a process that must trickle down from central banks to commercial banks and ultimately to businesses and citizens.
The $5 billion blow to commission fees
One of the main reasons PAPSS is viewed as such a critical mechanism is the sheer cost of transactions. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has estimated that once the system is fully operational, it could reduce currency conversion costs in Africa by up to $5 billion annually. This figure is staggering. This is not newly created wealth generated automatically. It represents money currently lost to currency conversions, delays, intermediaries, and transaction fees. PAPSS itself has also utilized the $5 billion estimate as one of its primary arguments favoring the creation of an African payment framework.
From days to... seconds
The second weapon in the PAPSS arsenal is speed. In official Afreximbank announcements regarding the system's deployment, it has been noted that payments can settle in approximately 120 seconds, while PAPSS describes its infrastructure as an instant payment system. For businesses, the difference is massive. An importer no longer has to wait through an extended chain of banking procedures. An exporter can collect payments far faster. And the smaller the enterprise, the greater the impact of every single day of delay and every additional bank fee.
Is Muammar Gaddafi's "dream" returning through another door?
Linking PAPSS to Muammar Gaddafi is primarily a political and symbolic interpretation rather than the official origin of the system. PAPSS was created by Afreximbank in collaboration with the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA Secretariat), and was officially launched for public operations in 2022. Nevertheless, the philosophy underpinning the movement recalls a concept that has surfaced in various forms throughout African politics for decades: Greater economic and monetary autonomy for the continent. Gaddafi was politically aligned with a significantly more ambitious vision of pan-African integration. PAPSS is not an "African dollar," nor a single currency, and it certainly does not represent the execution of a plan by the former Libyan leader. Yet on a symbolic level, proponents of African financial autonomy can easily view current developments as a digital incarnation of an older ambition: for Africa to trade more on its own terms.
France and the CFA franc back in the spotlight
The most significant geopolitical discussion stems from the six BEAC member states. The CEMAC countries utilize the Central African CFA franc (XAF), which is issued by BEAC and maintains a fixed exchange rate pegged to the euro. The Banque de France itself reports that the exchange rate is fixed at 655.957 CFA francs per euro and that the French Treasury provides a convertibility guarantee within the context of monetary cooperation. For this exact reason, BEAC's entry into a system facilitating direct payments in other African currencies carries strong political symbolism. However, caution is warranted. PAPSS does not sever the CFA franc's peg to the euro, nor does it mean that the French monetary relationship with CEMAC is disappearing. What changes is the creation of an additional African pathway for cross-border transactions. And the more this path is utilized, the smaller the need to resort to traditional external payment mechanisms for intra-African trade.
The real plan behind PAPSS: A massive African market
PAPSS was not developed as an isolated economic experiment. It serves as a core tool for the AfCFTA, the endeavor to establish a unified African free trade area. The logic is straightforward. A truly unified market cannot exist if transferring money between nations remains expensive, sluggish, and reliant on financial hubs outside Africa. UNECA categorizes PAPSS as a major step toward continental financial integration and connects its operation to the broader goal of boosting intra-African commerce. Put simply: AfCFTA seeks to dismantle barriers to goods. PAPSS seeks to dismantle barriers to capital flow.
And now gold enters the game
Alongside the new payment system, Afreximbank and the Central Bank of Egypt are advancing a distinct plan to create a Pan-African Gold Bank Programme in Egypt. Afreximbank's official release states that the initiative aims to better organize the African gold value chain, bolster central bank reserves, and reduce reliance on processing and trading hubs outside Africa. This aspect is perhaps just as pivotal as PAPSS itself. Because the underlying question is no longer merely: "In which currency will Africa settle payments?" But also: "Where will it store, process, and trade its own wealth and commodities?"
De-dollarization that hasn't fully happened – but infrastructure building has begun
The most striking mistake would be to claim that Africa has "abandoned the dollar." No such shift has occurred. The dollar maintains immense significance for international trade, primary commodities, debt service, and foreign exchange reserves across many African nations. However, PAPSS creates something that was missing until recently: The technical capability to bypass the dollar in intra-African transactions. Over the long term, this could prove far more consequential than any political declaration regarding "de-dollarization." Because genuine transformations in monetary systems do not begin with political slogans. They begin when the underlying infrastructure exists, enabling market participants to utilize a viable alternative.
Africa builds its own financial highway
The emerging picture is striking. 34 countries are already integrated into the network according to the latest official release. Over 190 commercial banks and fintech platforms. Six Central African nations entering via BEAC. Settlements in local national currencies. Potential annual savings of up to $5 billion in exchange fees. And concurrently, a new framework for African gold infrastructure. This does not yet constitute an economic revolution that has overthrown the global monetary architecture. Yet it represents something that may prove far more significant over time: The development of tools allowing Africa to retain a larger share of its trade, payments, and capital assets within the continent itself. And if this infrastructure scales across all of Africa, the dominant discussion will no longer center on whether Muammar Gaddafi's "dream" has returned. It will focus on whether a continent of 54 nations is beginning, for the first time, to acquire the financial infrastructure to function as a truly unified economic power.
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