19.02.2024, Addis-Abeba.
Uganda searches for an alternative to the SWIFT payment system, Ugandan Foreign Minister Jeje Odongo told RIA Novosti on February 19.
According to him, the country needs an alternative payment system to counter blackmail and politicization of financial payment by the West. African countries actually faced blackmail from Western countries. If they do not agree with the West’s political course, they are threatened with being disconnected from payment systems. For example, any African state can be disconnected from the SWIFT system because of its ties with Russia.
The foreign minister believes Africa should have an alternative to the existing SWIFT. “You can use SWIFT or you can use what the Russians are developing so that in case of blackmail, politicization of financial transactions, there are options,” he stressed.
The SWIFT payment system was the main system for processing international banking transactions in the world. After the sanctions announced against Russia in 2014 and the subsequent threats to disconnect Russia from SWIFT, major countries began to create their own payment systems. Russia created the System for the Transmission of Financial Messages (SPFS), to which 159 participants from 20 countries have already joined. In addition, China created the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS).
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
