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Guinea-Bissau uses blockchain to manage public finances: IMF
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Guinea-Bissau has launched a blockchain platform to manage public servants’ salaries and increase transparency in the corruption-plagued country, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday.
Blockchain technology is a virtual ledger that allows information to be stored and exchanged in a secure, secret and unalterable manner. Each transaction is recorded in real time, in a tamper-proof record.
An IMF mission traveled to the West African country on Monday to launch a “blockchain solution to strengthen the transparency of wage bill management in the Ministries of Finance and Public Administration”, said the IMF in a statement.
“Although many countries are using blockchain to address a broad spectrum of banking issues, securitization of agricultural crops or cash-based transfers, Guinea-Bissau is among the first countries to use technology to address structural management of public finances,” said Concha Verdugo-Yepes, head of mission.
“As far as we know, Guinea-Bissau is the first fragile state and the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to use this solution,” he added.
Blockchain digital technology will “improve government operations in managing the wage bill, strengthen fiscal transparency and address governance vulnerabilities”, said the IMF, adding that the platform “detects discrepancies and raises red flags when information on wages is inconsistent”.
“This innovation could help build trust in tax institutions, increase accountability and reduce any perception of public corruption,” the organization said.
Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony with around two million inhabitants, is notoriously unstable, having suffered a series of military or political coups since independence in 1974.
The West African nation is one of the poorest in the world and ranked 158th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index.
© 2024 AFP
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