His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio yesterday Wednesday 3rd May, 2023 officially launched the National Payment Switch (NPS) 2023 at the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) Staff Recreation Complex at Kingtom, Freetown.

In his keynote statement, His Excellency President Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio said the launch of the NPS marked the beginning of a new era in internal banking and financial services with the rest of the world.

The President emphasized that the launch of the NPS was another governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) New Direction commitment met in promoting inclusive economic growth as a core objective of its transformation vision for this nation, adding that it is a vision that focuses on bringing the development of technological progress to citizens in multiple sectors as fast as possible.

According to President Maada Bio, “With the launch of the NPS which is a major persistent barrier in building inclusive and vibrant economy has been overcome. The NPS is the adoption of E-Commerce and citizens in remote communities do not need to incur transport cost to access government services. They can now benefit from government services at little or no cost involve.”

He added that Sierra Leone has joined the rest of the world in the bedrock of trade transactions as payment barriers have been eliminated locally and internationally.

President Maada Bio thanked the World Bank for sharing its vision, and the leadership of the Central Bank in collaboration with stakeholders in the banking sector.

The World Bank Representative, Lydia Wilfred, congratulated the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) for the successful launch of the NPS which she said was a milestone in addressing the challenges in digital cash transactions.

She disclosed that the Sierra Leone Financial Inclusion Project funded by the World Bank was important to Sierra Leone’s financial inclusion agenda, and also has the potential to contribute in generating revenue and GDP growth.

Lydia Wilfred further called for close collaboration between the Central Bank and financial institutions to deliver in the remaining various stages of the project implementation.

The Acting Governor of BSL, Dr. Ibrahim Steven, said no time is better than now to launch the NPS to enable transformation in the financial sector.

He recalled that a decade ago, transactions between commercial banks were sticky and difficult and would take three days, but however said significant improvement has been made in the payment system with digital innovation of banks and mobile money services.

The Acting Governor thanked the World Bank for the support and the steadfast leadership of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio as well as the financial institutions to ensure the successful implementation of the project.

He described the NPS as a critical infrastructure and that was why the Central Bank was leading the process as instant payment would be rolled out in three months’ period.

The NPS spearheaded by the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) in collaboration with financial institutions is part of the Sierra Leone Financial Inclusion Project funded by the World Bank to increase innovative digital access to finance by the people.