The South African Reserve Bank recently issued a position paper, making its stance quite clear — they do not plan to develop a retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the short term.

Why? The Central Bank's reasoning is quite practical: the more urgent task now is to upgrade the existing payment system. They are pushing a series of reform projects, such as allowing more non-bank institutions to access the national payment network, and also renovating the entire clearing infrastructure. The Central Bank believes that these tangible upgrades can address the payment pain points of the public more effectively than launching the digital Rand.

Technically, is it feasible? Yes. But practical application is another matter.

The report mentions that in order for retail CBDC to be truly useful, it must meet five hard indicators: it should be usable offline, accepted everywhere, have almost zero transaction fees, be easy to operate, and also protect privacy—the standards must be as high as cash, or even higher. The question arises, with South Africa's current technology and infrastructure, it cannot fully meet these criteria.

There is also a practical issue: about 16% of adults in the country do not have a bank account at all. If we want to rely on digital rand to fill this gap, its convenience and reliability must first be guaranteed.

The meaning of the Central Bank is also very clear - it does not mean never doing it, but rather that the time is not right. When the day comes that cash is used less, or the market innovation requires the Central Bank to provide a digital money infrastructure, then it would not be too late to consider it. At this stage, solidifying the payment infrastructure is the main priority.