Onome Amuge
Liberia’s decision to switch on a fully interoperable, real-time payments platform recently marks a quiet but consequential shift in how small, cash-dependent economies can accelerate financial modernisation without waiting for decades of incremental reform. Rather than focusing on flashy fintech innovation or consumer-facing apps, the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has placed its bet on national payments infrastructure; the less visible but more foundational layer of digital finance.
The launch of the Liberian Inclusive Instant Payments System (IIPS), built on the open-source Mojaloop platform, positions Liberia among a growing group of countries that are rethinking the architecture of their financial systems to prioritise speed, interoperability and inclusion. For a country long characterised by fragmented payment channels, heavy reliance on cash and limited integration between mobile money providers and banks, the move represents a structural reset rather than a marginal upgrade.
Until now, Liberia’s mobile money ecosystem has mirrored a familiar pattern across many African markets, where competing operators run closed-loop systems that do not easily communicate with one another. In practical terms, this forced users to maintain multiple wallets or even carry multiple phones to transact across networks. For businesses, government agencies and households alike, the friction added cost, complexity and inefficiency to everyday transactions.
IIPS changes that dynamic by enabling seamless, real-time transfers between the country’s two dominant mobile money operators (Lone Star Cell MTN and Orange Liberia), while also laying the groundwork for integration with commercial banks, microfinance institutions, fintechs and government payment systems. In doing so, the platform moves Liberia closer to a unified national payments switch, a long-stated ambition of the CBL.
What makes the Liberian case particularly notable is not only what was built, but how quickly it was delivered. Using Mojaloop’s open-source infrastructure, the core system was deployed in just 73 business days, making it the fastest implementation of the platform globally to date. Government-to-person (G2P) payments were live within that window, while full person-to-person (P2P) interoperability followed shortly after, reaching completion in 111 days.
The timing of the launch is also significant. Liberia has made measurable progress in financial inclusion over the past decade, driven largely by the expansion of mobile money. According to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2024, account ownership in the country reached 52 per cent, surpassing an earlier national target of 50 per cent. More than 11 million mobile wallets are now active, a striking figure for a country of just over five million people.
However, access alone has not guaranteed efficiency. The absence of interoperability meant that digital finance often replicated the silos of the cash economy rather than eliminating them. By addressing this bottleneck, IIPS aims to convert access into usability, enabling digital accounts to function as true substitutes for cash in daily life.
The economic implications are notable. For government, the shift promises faster, more transparent and less costly payment flows. Salary disbursements and social transfers that previously took days to process can now be completed in seconds, reducing leakage and improving public sector efficiency. In a fiscal environment where trust in institutions and value-for-money spending are critical, such gains matter.
The choice of Mojaloop as the underlying infrastructure reflects a development in how central banks approach digital public goods. Developed to advance financial inclusion, Mojaloop offers a modular, open-source alternative to proprietary payment switches. Its deployment in Liberia (the first real-money implementation of version 17) also gives the country early access to features that support cross-border payments and fintech integration, positioning it to plug into regional systems such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS).
This regional dimension is increasingly important. As African economies pursue trade integration under frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the ability to move money quickly and cheaply across borders is becoming as critical as the movement of goods themselves. By modernising its domestic payments rails, Liberia strengthens its readiness for deeper regional financial integration.
The project also highlights the growing role of local and regional expertise in delivering complex financial infrastructure. ThitsaWorks, the Singapore-based firm that led the technical implementation alongside the Mojaloop Foundation and AfricaNenda Foundation, traces its roots in the Mojaloop ecosystem to earlier deployments in Asia. Its leadership role in Liberia underscores how implementation capacity is becoming more distributed, reducing dependence on a small pool of global systems integrators.
By convening mobile operators, banks, government ministries and development partners around a shared platform, the CBL is asserting its role as a market orchestrator rather than a passive regulator. That approach aligns with a wider trend among central banks in emerging markets, which are increasingly taking the lead in building shared financial infrastructure to correct market failures and unlock scale.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s decision to anchor the launch within the government’s ARREST Agenda further signals that digital payments are being framed not as a niche financial sector reform, but as part of a broader economic transformation strategy.
