A small business in Nigeria can have a reliable supplier in Ghana, a customer in Kenya or a distributor in Rwanda and still struggle to complete an ordinary payment. The problem is not necessarily a lack of buyers or sellers. It can be the financial infrastructure connecting them.
Cross-border payments in Africa have traditionally involved multiple banks, currency conversions, intermediary institutions, compliance checks and settlement arrangements. For a large corporation, these costs may be manageable. For a small business working with limited cash reserves, a delayed payment or an unexpectedly expensive currency conversion can determine whether an order remains profitable.
This is why PAPSS cross-border payments in 2026 deserve serious attention from African entrepreneurs, researchers, financial institutions and policymakers.
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), developed by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in collaboration with the African Union Commission and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, is designed to facilitate payments between participating African countries in local currencies. Its objective is to reduce unnecessary payment intermediaries, simplify currency settlement and make regional commerce more efficient. (PAPSS official website)
Two developments illustrate how the system is evolving. In February 2026, PAPSS partnered with Kenya’s Pesalink to connect its payment network with Kenyan banks and mobile-money operators. That same month, Onafriq announced a Central Bank of Nigeria-approved pilot for wallet-based payments from Nigeria to Ghana, using naira for the originating payment and connecting banks and mobile-money operators. (PAPSS–Pesalink announcement; Onafriq–PAPSS wallet pilot)
These developments point toward a potentially important change in African finance: small businesses may be able to pay suppliers and receive money across borders without depending on the same hard-currency routing arrangements that have historically complicated many regional transactions.
However, local-currency payments are not a complete solution to Africa’s trade problems. Exchange rates still matter, currency liquidity is still necessary, participating institutions must comply with financial regulations, and a faster payment does not automatically make a product cheaper to manufacture or transport.
The real question is whether this infrastructure can reduce the financial friction that prevents African businesses from trading profitably with one another.
Why Cross-Border Payments Remain Expensive for African Small Businesses
Consider a Nigerian business importing shea butter, processed foods or textiles from Ghana. The business agrees on a price with its supplier, but the two parties may use different currencies, different banks and different domestic payment systems.
The buyer needs to know how many naira must be paid. The supplier needs to know how many cedis will arrive. Both businesses need certainty about when the transaction will be completed and what fees will be deducted.
A payment routed through several financial intermediaries may involve transfer charges, exchange-rate spreads, processing delays and additional documentation. Where correspondent banking arrangements are required, the transaction may take longer than an equivalent domestic transfer.
These costs are particularly damaging for small businesses because they often operate with thin profit margins. A company earning a modest margin on a shipment cannot easily absorb unexpected banking charges or several days of tied-up working capital.
The World Bank’s 2023 remittance-price data cited in PAPSS’s February 2026 announcement indicated that transfers across African borders cost an average of approximately 7–8% of the amount sent, above the global average reported at the time. This is historical benchmark evidence, not a universal price for every African business payment in 2026. Actual charges depend on the corridor, currency pair, transaction size, service provider and type of transfer. (PAPSS–Pesalink announcement)
For an SME, the problem extends beyond the transfer fee. A supplier may refuse to release goods until payment is confirmed, while the buyer may be unwilling to send another payment until the first transaction is resolved. Such uncertainty can disrupt inventory planning, production schedules and customer delivery commitments.
This is why improving cross-border payments is not merely a banking issue. It is also a working-capital issue, a supply-chain issue and a competitiveness issue.
PAPSS Explained: How African Local-Currency Payments Work
PAPSS is a cross-border financial-market infrastructure. It connects participating central banks, commercial banks, payment-service providers and financial-market intermediaries so that customers can initiate payments in one African country and send funds to recipients in another participating market.
Instead of requiring every customer payment to travel through a conventional sequence of separate international banking arrangements, PAPSS provides a common payment and settlement system through which participating institutions can exchange payment instructions and process local-currency transactions.
Its instant-payment process can be understood in five stages.
First, the customer instructs a participating bank or payment provider to make a payment in the originating country’s currency. The payment is submitted to PAPSS, which performs validation and relevant compliance checks before routing the instruction to the recipient’s participating financial institution.
The recipient institution then credits the beneficiary in the relevant local currency according to the transaction’s agreed conversion terms. PAPSS states that its instant-payment infrastructure can process eligible transactions within 120 seconds, although actual availability and timing depend on the participants, corridor and circumstances of the transfer. (PAPSS official guide to how it works)
This distinction is important. PAPSS provides the underlying infrastructure; customers generally access it through participating financial institutions rather than treating PAPSS itself as an ordinary retail bank account.
A business owner therefore needs to establish whether their bank, fintech or payment provider supports the specific corridor and payment service they want to use. The fact that a country is connected to the broader PAPSS network does not automatically mean every bank, mobile wallet and customer in that country can transact through every corridor.
What Has Changed in 2026: PAPSS Is Expanding Beyond the Original Banking Connections
PAPSS has continued to expand its network through connections with banks, national payment switches, fintechs and other financial intermediaries.
On 26 February 2026, PAPSS announced a partnership with Pesalink, Kenya’s instant-payment network. The partnership connected more than 80 participants in the Pesalink network with more than 160 commercial banks and fintechs on PAPSS. It was designed to facilitate cross-border transfers into Kenyan bank accounts and mobile-money services through participating providers. (PAPSS–Pesalink announcement)
This matters because many African consumers and businesses already rely on domestic instant-payment systems. Connecting those systems can be more practical than requiring every user to open an entirely new account or install another application.
Another development occurred in July 2026, when the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) joined PAPSS. BEAC serves the six countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad. PAPSS reported that its network then connected 28 African countries, with more than 190 commercial banks and fintechs supported by 16 switches. The announcement also explained that operationalisation with BEAC would continue through the end of 2026. (PAPSS–BEAC announcement)
These figures show that the infrastructure is expanding. They should not, however, be interpreted as proof that all 28 countries have the same level of retail payment availability or that every institution is already processing live transactions.
For businesses, the useful measure is practical access: can the relevant provider send money from the buyer’s country to the seller’s account or wallet, in the required currency, under the relevant regulations?
PAPSS maintains a live network and bank-participant directory, which is a better starting point than assuming nationwide or continent-wide availability from general announcements.
The Nigeria–Ghana Wallet Pilot Shows What Local-Currency Payments Could Mean in Practice
A particularly relevant 2026 development for West African businesses is the PAPSS and Onafriq wallet-payment pilot.
Announced on 2 February 2026, the pilot was designed to allow payments from Nigeria to Ghana through participating banks and mobile-money operators. It was approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria and described as a six-month trial supporting payments for individuals, merchants and small businesses. The aim was to enable payments originating in naira without requiring the customer-level transfer to depend on a conventional hard-currency conversion route. (Onafriq announcement; We Are Tech)
Imagine a Nigerian food distributor that needs to pay a Ghanaian supplier for processed agricultural products. Under a suitable local-currency wallet arrangement, the buyer can initiate the payment through a supported provider and the recipient can receive the corresponding local-currency amount through the connected financial network.
That could simplify the process for businesses that do not have the capacity to maintain several foreign-currency accounts or arrange their own international banking relationships.
But the pilot should not be mistaken for proof that all Nigerian and Ghanaian wallets can already transact freely with one another. The launch announcement described a trial, and businesses should verify current availability, fees, transaction limits and participating providers before relying on the corridor for commercial payments.
The broader lesson is that local-currency payments become more useful when the customer can access them through an existing bank or wallet rather than navigating a completely separate financial system.
How Local-Currency Settlement Can Help African Importers and Exporters
The practical benefit of PAPSS becomes clearer when considered from the perspective of a small business that buys and sells goods across African borders.
Imagine a Nigerian distributor purchasing goods from a Ghanaian manufacturer. The supplier invoices in cedis, while the buyer maintains working capital in naira. Under a traditional arrangement, the buyer may have to find a route that converts or intermediates the funds through another currency before the seller receives payment.
A supported PAPSS transaction can potentially allow the buyer to pay from a naira account and the seller to receive the corresponding amount in cedis, based on the agreed exchange-rate and fee terms.
The buyer still needs to know the naira cost. The seller still needs to know the cedi amount that will arrive. The advantage is that the transaction can avoid some of the intermediary steps associated with traditional correspondent-bank routing.
For the importer, faster payment confirmation can improve the timing of supplier orders. The exporter can gain better visibility into when payment will arrive and potentially reduce time spent reconciling transfers. Both businesses may find it easier to establish repeat trading relationships if payment becomes more predictable.
These benefits are particularly relevant for food processors, consumer-goods distributors, textile businesses, agricultural exporters, pharmaceutical distributors and regional wholesalers whose transactions may be too small to justify complex treasury arrangements.
However, the financial improvement should be measured rather than assumed. If an SME’s current payment provider already offers a competitive transfer rate, PAPSS may not necessarily produce a lower price on every transaction.
Why Digital Wallets Matter More Than the Technology Alone
Digital wallets are becoming important because they can make cross-border payment infrastructure accessible to people and businesses that do not operate through a traditional corporate treasury department.
A wallet may allow a freelancer, market trader, online seller or small service provider to receive money using a mobile application that they already understand.
For example, a Nigerian designer working for a Ghanaian business may benefit from receiving payment through a participating wallet or payment provider rather than establishing a dedicated international banking relationship. A small retailer purchasing goods from Ghana may benefit from being able to initiate payments through its usual financial application, provided that service is supported.
Wallets can also reduce the administrative burden associated with low-value transactions, where the cost of arranging a conventional bank transfer may be disproportionately high compared with the amount being sent.
But the wallet and the underlying payment system serve different roles. The wallet gives the user an interface through which to initiate or receive a payment, while PAPSS provides cross-border payment and settlement infrastructure connecting participating financial institutions.
A wallet is therefore not automatically connected to PAPSS simply because it supports mobile transfers. The provider must participate directly or access the relevant infrastructure through an eligible partner.
For businesses, the correct question is not simply whether a digital wallet exists. It is whether the wallet can access the exact African payment corridor required.
The Most Important Limitation: Local-Currency Payments Do Not Eliminate Foreign-Exchange Risk
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding local-currency payment systems is that they remove the need for foreign exchange altogether.
They do not.
Suppose a Nigerian importer owes a Ghanaian supplier GH₵20,000. The Nigerian buyer earns revenue in naira, while the Ghanaian supplier pays staff and operating expenses in cedis.
Even when a transaction is processed through PAPSS, an exchange-rate mechanism must determine the naira amount required to deliver the agreed cedi value. The relevant financial institutions also need arrangements that allow them to manage their currency positions.
The principal benefit is that the customer-level payment can avoid certain hard-currency detours and intermediary arrangements. It does not mean the naira and cedi have become interchangeable at a fixed rate, or that currency liquidity is no longer necessary.
PAPSS’s own technical explanation illustrates the distinction. Its system uses prefunding arrangements to ensure payment availability, processes local-currency payment instructions and performs net settlement across participating central banks. Its published settlement description also includes equivalent hard-currency settlement instructions to Afreximbank based on net positions. (PAPSS technical guide)
This means the retail transaction and the underlying settlement architecture should not be confused. Businesses may benefit from simpler local-currency payment routing even while financial institutions continue to manage exchange-rate exposure and settlement liquidity.
The exchange rate quoted to an SME remains important. A provider can advertise a low transfer fee while applying an unfavourable currency-conversion rate. The correct comparison is therefore the total naira paid against the actual cedis received, not the transfer fee alone.
FX Liquidity Is Still a Major Challenge for Regional Trade
Local-currency settlement reduces certain barriers, but a functioning payment system still requires liquidity.
Liquidity is the ability to meet payment obligations when they fall due. A financial institution handling transfers between naira and cedi needs arrangements that allow the transaction to be completed and the resulting currency positions to be settled.
PAPSS requires participants to make prefunding arrangements, and indirect participants may rely on sponsoring direct participants for the required liquidity. This is what enables customer payments to be processed rapidly without waiting for every underlying settlement position to be completed individually. (PAPSS)
For African SMEs, this distinction helps explain why local-currency payment access can still differ between corridors.
A route may be technically connected but not available through a particular provider. A provider may impose transaction limits or offer different currency pairs. A commercial payment may require additional documentary checks. A bank may also need time to resolve an unusual transaction or comply with a regulatory requirement.
The best approach is to test payment availability before committing to a commercial deadline. Businesses should not promise a supplier same-day payment until the provider has confirmed that the relevant corridor and transaction type support it.
PAPSS African Currency Marketplace: A Different Response to the FX Bottleneck
PAPSS has also developed the African Currency Marketplace (PACM), designed to facilitate direct exchange between African currencies and help businesses and financial institutions manage cross-border currency needs.
The marketplace was launched in July 2025 in collaboration with Interstellar, with the stated objective of addressing currency-conversion bottlenecks that complicate intra-African trade. (PAPSS–Interstellar launch announcement)
PACM and PAPSS’s instant-payment system address related but different problems. The instant-payment system routes payment instructions and supports cross-border clearing and settlement. A currency marketplace is concerned with matching currency needs and providing access to liquidity between African currency pairs.
That distinction matters for an importer making repeated payments to several African countries. A payment network can provide a route for moving money, but the business may still need a practical means of obtaining the currency required to settle its obligations.
For larger SMEs, distributors and corporates, currency matching and treasury management may therefore be as important as the payment rail itself.
Businesses should still compare the actual rate, charges, availability and settlement terms offered to them. A marketplace designed to improve currency exchange does not guarantee that every currency pair will always have sufficient liquidity at the price a particular business wants.
What Faster Payments Could Mean for Intra-African Trade Under AfCFTA
The African Continental Free Trade Area aims to reduce trade barriers and encourage the movement of goods and services across the continent. But tariff reduction alone cannot produce an integrated market if businesses still struggle to pay their suppliers, obtain trade finance or move goods through customs.
Payment infrastructure is therefore an important part of AfCFTA implementation.
Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2026 estimated intra-African trade at $213.8 billion in 2025, an increase of 5.47% from the revised 2024 estimate of $202.7 billion cited in that report. The report also highlighted industrialisation and stronger regional integration as important areas for African trade development. (Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2026 coverage; Nairametrics’ report on the 2025 figures)
The figures demonstrate the scale of regional economic activity, but they do not prove that PAPSS itself caused the increase. Many factors influence trade, including demand, exchange rates, tariffs, infrastructure, commodity production, logistics and economic growth.
That is an important distinction for researchers. Payment-system adoption and trade growth may be related, but correlation does not establish causation.
PAPSS could reduce one obstacle in the trade process. It cannot independently resolve every barrier facing African exporters.
Cheaper Payments Cannot Replace Trade Finance
One of the most persistent barriers facing African SMEs is access to trade finance.
A business may have a buyer and a supplier but lack the working capital required to purchase inventory, pay for shipment or wait for customers to settle invoices. Faster payment infrastructure can improve the transfer of money, but it does not automatically provide the credit needed to finance production.
Afreximbank’s 2025 trade report estimated Africa’s annual trade-finance gap at about $100 billion. Its December 2025 commentary also highlighted factoring and supply-chain finance as important instruments for helping SMEs obtain financing against invoices and commercial transactions. (Afreximbank, African Trade Report 2025; Afreximbank on factoring and supply-chain finance)
This creates an important opportunity to combine payment and finance infrastructure.
A small exporter that can issue invoices, receive payments reliably and maintain a digital transaction history may find it easier to demonstrate business activity to a lender. A bank or fintech may then be able to evaluate an invoice-financing or working-capital product using verified business records.
That outcome is not automatic. Payment history alone does not establish that an invoice is genuine or that a borrower can repay a loan. But a reliable digital financial record can help reduce some information gaps that make SME lending difficult.
The long-term opportunity is therefore broader than transferring money. It is to connect payment infrastructure with trade documentation, working-capital finance and reliable business records.
What Importers and Exporters Should Check Before Using PAPSS
For a business owner, the immediate question is practical: how can PAPSS reduce the actual cost and risk of a payment?
The first step is to confirm that the business’s bank or payment provider supports the specific corridor, payment type and recipient institution. Checking the PAPSS live-participant directory is a useful starting point, but the provider should confirm that the intended customer transaction is available.
The next step is to request the full cost before sending the money. The quote should identify the originating amount, the currency the recipient will receive, the exchange rate, the provider’s transfer fee and any additional charges. This helps expose unfavourable currency spreads that a low advertised transfer fee might conceal.
The third step is to check transaction limits, processing times, payment cut-off rules, documentation requirements and the procedure for failed or misdirected payments. PAPSS describes successful instant-payment credits as irrevocable under its core service, with different provisions for certain escrow transactions. Businesses should therefore verify the beneficiary details carefully before authorising a transfer. (PAPSS)
Finally, the payment should be reconciled with the commercial transaction. The invoice, order reference, payment confirmation and delivery record should agree. This is particularly important when a business makes repeated payments to overseas suppliers, because a payment can be technically successful while still being sent against a fraudulent invoice or an incorrect beneficiary account.
A Practical Method for Comparing PAPSS With an Existing Transfer Route
The most useful way to evaluate PAPSS is to compare the amount paid, the amount received and the total time involved.
Imagine a Nigerian importer owes a supplier GH₵20,000. One provider offers a conventional international-transfer route, while another offers a supported PAPSS-based route. The business should obtain a live quote from both providers for the same invoice amount and timing.
For each option, calculate the total naira debited, including transaction fees and any mandatory charges. Then confirm how many cedis the supplier will receive. Dividing the total naira cost by the cedis received gives the effective cost per cedi delivered.
This comparison should also record the expected completion time, whether the exchange rate is locked before payment and whether any additional intermediary or receiving-bank charges can apply.
The calculation should be based on actual quotes rather than assumed fee reductions. PAPSS aims to provide competitive and more efficient transfers, but the savings available to an individual SME depend on the route and provider.
For businesses that make frequent payments, this comparison can be repeated monthly. The results provide a practical basis for deciding whether to route particular transactions through PAPSS or another payment method.
How PAPSS and Digital Wallets Could Help Freelancers and Small Service Businesses
Cross-border trade does not only involve physical goods.
Freelancers, designers, software developers, consultants, creative professionals and remote-service providers increasingly work for customers in other African countries. They may need to receive a small payment from a business that does not want to arrange a conventional international bank transfer.
A connected wallet or payment provider can potentially give these workers a simpler way to receive money, provided the service supports the relevant corridor and complies with applicable requirements.
The benefit is especially relevant when a professional receives several modest payments rather than a few large invoices. Reducing unnecessary administrative steps may make regional service exports more practical.
However, payment-system connectivity does not remove tax, invoicing or business-registration obligations. Freelancers should maintain records of invoices, receipts and fees and should understand the tax rules applicable to their residence and business activity.
They should also verify the provider’s currency-conversion terms and how to resolve a delayed, rejected or incorrectly addressed payment.
Compliance and Fraud Protection Remain Essential
Cross-border payments must comply with applicable laws and regulations. These may include customer identification, anti-money-laundering requirements, sanctions screening, foreign-exchange rules and transaction monitoring.
PAPSS states that its platform incorporates validation and compliance checks as part of the payment process. (PAPSS technical guide) Nevertheless, compliance requirements remain relevant to the participating banks, payment providers and customers.
For SMEs, the practical consequence is that certain transactions may require additional documentation. A supplier payment that does not match the invoice, a payment involving an unusual business relationship or a transaction that triggers a financial institution’s review may not complete as quickly as a routine transfer.
Fraud is another concern. Instant payments can be efficient, but a fast and difficult-to-reverse transfer can also increase the consequences of sending money to the wrong account.
Businesses should confirm changes to supplier bank details through a separate, trusted channel, verify the recipient before authorising a transfer and be cautious when a supplier suddenly requests payment to a new wallet or unrelated account.
These controls should be part of the business’s payment process, not an afterthought.
Interoperability Is the Real Test of African Fintech Payments
A payment system can be technically sophisticated and still offer limited value if it connects only a small number of institutions.
Interoperability means that different payment systems can communicate and exchange transactions reliably under agreed technical, operational and regulatory arrangements.
For PAPSS, this involves working with banks, payment providers, national switches and central-bank systems. Its use of the ISO 20022 messaging standard supports the exchange of structured payment information, but common messaging standards alone do not guarantee universal access. Institutions must also integrate their systems, establish liquidity arrangements, follow common operating procedures and comply with relevant rules. (PAPSS)
The February 2026 Pesalink partnership shows how connecting a national payment network can extend access beyond the institutions directly integrated into a continental system. The Nigeria–Ghana wallet pilot demonstrates a related approach through banks and mobile-money operators.
The challenge is making these connections dependable and commercially useful. Businesses need to know not only that a system exists, but whether the payment route works consistently for their particular trade corridor.
Could PAPSS Actually Increase Intra-African Trade?
It could contribute, but the effect should be described carefully.
Lower payment friction can improve a business’s ability to trade by reducing costs, uncertainty and the time between sending and receiving money. For small businesses, these savings may make some transactions commercially viable that would otherwise be too expensive or administratively burdensome.
A more accessible cross-border payment system may also encourage repeat transactions between suppliers and customers in different African markets. As business relationships grow, digital payment records can help document commercial activity and potentially support future trade-finance applications.
However, payments are only one component of the trade process. Customs delays, transport costs, poor road and port infrastructure, regulatory differences, non-tariff barriers, limited credit and inconsistent product standards can still prevent a transaction from becoming profitable.
This is why PAPSS should be viewed as trade-enabling infrastructure rather than a complete trade-development policy.
Its impact will depend on whether businesses use it regularly, whether all-in transaction costs actually fall, whether failures and disputes are handled effectively, whether enough providers support the relevant corridors and whether firms can obtain the finance and logistics services needed to fulfil orders.
Researchers should measure these outcomes directly instead of assuming that growth in PAPSS connectivity automatically translates into equivalent growth in African trade.
What Researchers Should Measure in 2026
PAPSS offers a valuable case study for researchers examining financial integration, payment infrastructure and regional trade.
The first research question should concern cost. Researchers could compare the all-in cost of similar transactions before and after access to PAPSS, controlling for transaction size, currency pair and payment provider.
The second is speed and reliability. Average completion time is useful, but researchers should also examine the proportion of transactions completed successfully, failed transfers, settlement delays and time spent resolving disputes.
The third is adoption. It is important to distinguish institutions that have connected to PAPSS from businesses and consumers who actively use the service. Relevant indicators include monthly active users, repeat transactions, transaction frequency and the number of SMEs using the system for genuine commercial payments.
The fourth concerns trade effects. Researchers could compare trade volumes in corridors where PAPSS becomes available with comparable corridors that have not yet achieved the same level of connectivity. A careful study would control for exchange rates, economic growth, tariffs, logistics and other factors that could influence trade.
The fifth concerns inclusion. Researchers should examine whether the system improves access for smaller businesses, rural firms, informal traders, freelancers and merchants that previously struggled to make cross-border payments.
Finally, financial-stability research should examine whether local-currency payment arrangements change currency demand, settlement liquidity, bank funding needs or the role of traditional correspondent banking.
These measures would help distinguish genuine economic impact from technological activity alone.
Conclusion
PAPSS and digital wallets could make African cross-border commerce more practical by reducing payment friction and connecting local financial systems. Their real value in 2026 will depend on whether businesses can access reliable corridors, obtain transparent currency-conversion terms and complete transactions at a genuinely competitive cost. If those conditions are met—and if payment infrastructure is supported by trade finance, better logistics and consistent regulation—local-currency payments can become an important part of Africa’s wider effort to expand intra-African trade.
Sources and References: External Links Used in This Article
The following sources provide the official technical information, policy background and 2026 developments discussed in this article.
PAPSS official website and technical documentation. These are the primary sources for the system’s purpose, payment flow, prefunding arrangements, local-currency settlement, network and services.
PAPSS — Network and Participating Institutions
PAPSS — Services for Businesses and Customers
2026 developments in regional payment connectivity. These announcements describe the Pesalink partnership in Kenya, the Nigeria–Ghana wallet-payment pilot and BEAC’s entry into PAPSS.
Onafriq — Nigeria-to-Ghana Wallet Payments Pilot With PAPSS, February 2026
PAPSS — BEAC Joins the Network, July 2026
Currency liquidity and local-currency exchange. These sources explain the distinction between payment routing and the currency arrangements that support cross-border transactions.
PAPSS — African Currency Marketplace
PAPSS — African Currency Marketplace Launch With Interstellar, July 2025
African trade and trade-finance context. These sources provide the broader economic background against which local-currency payment infrastructure should be assessed.
Afreximbank — African Trade Report 2026 Coverage and Publications
Nairametrics — Afreximbank’s 2025 Intra-African Trade Estimates, 25 June 2026
Afreximbank — African Trade Report 2025 and the Trade-Finance Gap
Afreximbank — Factoring and Supply-Chain Finance for African SMEs
FAQs
Can a Nigerian business pay a supplier in Ghana through PAPSS without buying US dollars first?
A business may be able to initiate a supported PAPSS payment from a naira account while the recipient receives the corresponding amount in cedis. The availability depends on the participating institutions, corridor and transaction type. Local-currency payment routing can reduce the need for customer-level hard-currency conversion, but it does not eliminate exchange-rate pricing or the currency-liquidity requirements of the wider financial system.
Does PAPSS guarantee that every cross-border payment will cost less than a bank transfer?
No. PAPSS is designed to simplify payments and reduce certain costs, but the final price depends on the provider’s transfer fees, exchange-rate quote and any other applicable charges. Businesses should compare the total amount debited with the amount the recipient actually receives, rather than judging a payment by its advertised transfer fee alone.
Can freelancers and small online businesses use PAPSS, or is it only for large companies?
PAPSS supports infrastructure for retail as well as wholesale payments and can be accessed through participating banks and payment-service providers. Freelancers and small online businesses may benefit where their providers support a relevant corridor and payment type. However, not every digital wallet automatically supports PAPSS, so users should confirm availability, limits, fees and recipient options with the provider.
Does PAPSS remove foreign-exchange risk and make the naira and other African currencies interchangeable?
No. The system can reduce unnecessary intermediary steps and hard-currency routing for supported transactions, but it does not fix exchange rates or make currencies freely interchangeable at a guaranteed price. Currency liquidity, conversion terms and the settlement arrangements of participating institutions continue to matter, particularly for businesses making large or repeated payments.
Will cheaper PAPSS payments automatically increase trade between African countries?
Cheaper and more predictable payments can make some transactions easier and improve working-capital management, but they are only one part of trade. Transport costs, customs procedures, product standards, tariffs, access to finance, infrastructure and demand still affect whether businesses can trade profitably. The system’s impact should therefore be evaluated using actual transaction costs, reliability, SME adoption and trade outcomes rather than network size alone.
Andrew David writes about finance, agricultural technology, and the newest trends in those areas. He brings nine years of experience and holds both a BSc and an MSc in Economics. His work breaks down complex ideas into clear, practical writing for professionals and everyday readers.
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