Luca Antonio Ricci

As the evolving digital frontier is explored, the experiences and aspirations of the region’s central banks, as expressed in the survey, will help harness the potential for digital currencies, assets and payments, and foster cooperation among countries in SSA

It emphasizes the pivotal role of collaboration and shared knowledge in navigating the intricate landscape of digital currencies and assets in SSA.

It discusses the motivations, benefits and challenges of central bank digital currency adoption, as well as the developments of digital private money and cryptoassets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

our survey of Sub-Saharan Africa Central Banks on digital currency and digital payments has been published in the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures

lnkd.in/eRB7KcKb

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How big a threat is AI to entry-level jobs? And what should companies do in response?

Interesting point that firms may not want replace new entry workers with AI as they need a pipeline of workers and they lose the experienced ones … but it requires firms to be forward-looking…How big a threat is AI to entry-level jobs? (from @TheEconomist) economist.com/business/202...

Digital Payment Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa This paper takes stock of developments and policy issues related to digital payments innovations across sub-Saharan African (SSA), including central bank digital currency (CBDC), fast payments systems...

A short version of our IMF departmental paper on digital payments in SSA (www.imf.org/en/publicati...) has been published in a CEPR book:
cepr.org/publications...

SFF 2025: Bridging Gaps, Building Foundations: Digital Public Infrastructure and Social Protection for Inclusive Growth

and here is the event i will be joining, at the
Singapore FinTech Festival #SFF2025 : fintechfestival.sg/agenda/agnd1... !!!!

SFF 2025 Speaker: Luca Antonio Ricci Assistant Director, Mission Chief, & Head of SSA Digital Payment Luca Antonio Ricci is an Assistant Director and Mission Chief at the International Monetary Fund, and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He leads the IMF African Department ...

here is my page at the Singapore FinTech Festival #SFF2025 : fintechfestival.sg/speakers/spk... !!!!

looking forward to seeing you all at the
Singapore FinTech Festival #SFF2025 !!!!

IMF Videos - Search

www.imf.org/en/Videos/vi...

Here are the videos for the 7th event of our IMF Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Network on Central Bank Digital Currency and Digital Payments, organized on May 12-13, 2025 together with the Bank of Ghana. The event focused on “Remittances, Compliance, and Interoperability”.

Market Sentiment (@marketsentiment) Jeff Bezos called AI an “industrial bubble”: “Investors don’t usually give a team of six people a couple billion dollars with no product, and that’s happening today.”

substack.com/@marketsenti...

Tether Unveils USA₮, its Planned U.S.-Regulated Dollar-Backed Stablecoin, and Will Appoint Bo Hines as CEO of Tether USA₮ - Tether.io The introduction of USA₮ and appointment of Bo Hines marks Tether’s next chapter in strengthening U.S. dollar dominance through transparency and innovation 12 September 2025 – Tether, the largest comp...

New Tether USAT will change the global landscape of stablecoins and likely influence the US Treasuries market tether.io/news/tether-...

Pls see the video here: www.omfif.org/videos/sub-s...

Sub-Saharan Africa's digital payments innovation: insights from the IMF - OMFIF Luca Antonio Ricci, mission chief and assistant director of the International Monetary Fund’s Africa department, joins OMFIF to present the IMF’s latest departmental paper on digital payments innovati...

Please join me for this event on Thursday organized by OMFIF, where we discuss developments and policy issues related to Digital Payments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

www.omfif.org/meetings/sub...

❓Why do the Nordics & Dutch speak English so much better than the Germans, Italians & French?

➡️ New Working Paper:

Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills
w/ F. Baumeister & E. Hanushek

www.nber.org/papers/w33984

A 🧵 1/12

Digital Payment Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa This paper takes stock of developments and policy issues related to digital payments innovations across sub-Saharan African (SSA), including central bank digital currency (CBDC), fast payments systems...

Our paper on Digital Payment Innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa is finally out!
www.imf.org/en/Publicati...

Luca Antonio Ricci, Advisor IMF African Department
Tommaso Mancini Griffoli, Division Chief IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department
Xiangming Li, Advisor IMF African Department

Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director of the IMF African Department, Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director IMF Monetary and Capital Markets Department
Vitaliy Kramarenko, Deputy Director IMF African Department

A great thank you to all the key speakers:
Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank,
Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO),
Bo Li, IMF Deputy Managing Director

This was organized as part of the IMF African Department Working Group on CBDC and Digital Payment that I am co-leading.

The rise of digital money and payments has transformed the payment landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policymakers explored the future policy agenda related to digital payments, aimed at improving financial inclusion and payment efficiency.

Digital Innovations in Payments: Sub-Saharan Africa Future Agenda The rise of digital money and payments has transformed the payment landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policymakers explored the future policy agenda related to digital payments, aimed at improving finan...

As part of the IMF-WB 2025 Spring Meetings, we held a High-Level event on “Digital Innovations in Payments: Sub-Saharan Africa Future Agenda”:
www.imf.org/en/Videos/vi...

Thanks to the WAEMU regional authorities with whom we had excellent meetings, and to the WAEMU team for the tireless efforts.

IMF Executive Board Concludes 2025 Discussions on Common Policies of Member Countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union Economic growth continues to be strong in the WAEMU. Inflation has fallen back to its target range, and recent improvements in regional external imbalances are supporting a strong recovery in reserves...

I am happy to report that the IMF Executive Board concluded on Friday May 2nd the 2025 Discussions on Common Policies of Member Countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
www.imf.org/en/News/Arti...

Bond Sell Off Raises Questions About U.S. Safe Haven Status As the fallout from President Trump’s global trade war spreads, investors are fleeing what is typically seen as the safest corner.

This is another opportunity for Europe to start denting the US$ financial dominance in global markets (the could not take advantage of the GFC )
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/b...

Reciprocal Tariff Calculations Executive Summary Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the U.S. and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that pe...

ustr.gov/issue-areas/...

The importance of boredom www.facebook.com/share/r/18fi...

Rubio says South African ambassador ‘no longer welcome’ in US | CNN Politics US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that South Africa’s ambassador to the United States “is no longer welcome in our great country.”

This discusses more broadly the USA South Africa relations, the land reform, and the US welcoming Africaners www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/p...

The Fed, the Fund, and the Bank in Trump’s Crosshairs | by Barry Eichengreen - Project Syndicate Barry Eichengreen explains why the US president’s second administration, unlike his first, is targeting all three.

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t... “The main loser in each case [IMF and WB] would be the US itself.…For the Fed, the situation is, if anything, more dire”