ABSTRACT

Despite years of effort, financial inclusion persists as a major challenge in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs), with many in the region still lacking access to financial services. This article argues that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) offer a potentially highly efficacious solution to (i) the financial inclusion challenges of the PICs and (ii) the problem of high remittance costs that currently serve as a tax on the earnings of Pacific Islanders abroad. We identify the key challenges that may inhibit the rollout of CBDCs in PICs but argue that in time such a rollout is nonetheless highly likely – since the key drivers of CBDC development in the region are likely to be external to PICs themselves. While their potential is very significant, we conclude that now is not the time to issue a CBDC in the region, but it is the time to begin laying the groundwork for this innovation by developing the expertise required within the region’s central banks.

摘要

尽管经过多年努力，普惠金融仍然是太平洋岛国 (PIC) 面临的一项重大挑战，该地区的许多国家仍然无法获得金融服务。本文认为，中央银行数字货币 (CBDC) 为 (i) 太平洋岛国的金融包容性挑战和 (ii) 目前对太平洋岛民的收入征税的高汇款成本问题提供了一种潜在的高效解决方案国外。我们确定了可能阻碍 CBDC 在 PIC 中推出的关键挑战，但认为及时推出这种推出的可能性仍然很大——因为该地区 CBDC 发展的关键驱动因素可能在 PIC 本身之外。虽然它们的潜力非常重要，但我们得出的结论是，现在不是在该地区发行 CBDC 的时候，