The cashless journey in Rwanda: Building a digital economy for all

Rwanda has made significant progress in digital finance. In 2024, digital payments reached 300% of GDP, and digital service usage was at 73%, up from 30% four years prior. 

With high-level policy commitment and rapid technological uptake, the country has positioned digital payments as a core component of its economic transformation agenda, targeting financial inclusion and economic modernisation. From mobile money to interoperable payment systems, Rwanda's cashless transition is redefining how citizens, firms, and government interact with money.

However, building a cashless economy is not just about reducing the use of banknotes. It requires balancing innovation with inclusion, competition with regulation, and convenience with trust. 

IGC collaborated with the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) to hold their Annual Research Conference with the theme of "Cashless Journey in Rwanda: Drivers, Achievements and Challenges". 

Drawing from dialogue at the conference and lessons from peer countries, this post explores what Rwanda's experience reveals about the promise and limits of cashless transitions in Africa and the policy and research priorities that lie ahead.

Going cashless has benefits – but gaps in digital access persist

Digital payments offer clear advantages. They reduce transaction costs, improve convenience, and can help households and firms build financial histories, which are key for accessing finance. For governments, digital finance creates efficiencies in service delivery and public finance management, while enabling greater transparency and tax compliance.

In Rwanda, the government has leveraged these benefits to build a comprehensive digital finance ecosystem. National strategies have supported fintech expansion, regulatory reforms, and interoperability across providers. Programs like eKash and mobile money fee waivers have improved access and usage. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated adoption.

Today, over 90% of Rwandan adults report making digital payments weekly. Public services, tax collection, and retail transactions increasingly rely on digital rails. Yet challenges remain. 

Many Rwandans still rely on cash, especially in rural areas, and gender gaps in digital access persist. Digital finance providers face pricing pressures, and users may revert to cash if their trust is undermined and data security issues still pose a threat. These are not minor glitches – they are central to the issue of whether cashless systems serve development goals.

Not just a technology shift, but a policy agenda

Going cashless is not a purely technical exercise. It raises fundamental questions for public policy, such as:

• How can we ensure everyone benefits from digital finance, regardless of income, gender, or geography?
• What kinds of regulations are needed to support innovation without compromising consumer protection or financial stability?
• How do digital payment systems reshape macroeconomic policy, from inflation targeting to tax design?

These questions illustrate the need for proactive policy to harness the gains from digitisation. A good example is the early push for system-wide interoperability in Rwanda, which avoided provider lock-ins. 

Lessons in digital finance from other developing countries

Rwanda is not alone in pursuing digital finance. For instance, Kenya’s M-Pesa revolutionised mobile payments, but high provider concentration and cash persistence remain issues. Interoperability arrived years later, revealing the importance of early design choices.

Ghana also achieved rapid mobile money growth, only for transaction volumes to slow after an e-levy on digital transfers. This highlights the need for fiscal tools to be carefully calibrated in digital economies. In India, UPI (Unified Payments Interface) demonstrates the power of public digital infrastructure, as free, real-time payments were scaled rapidly with the support of enabling regulation and industry cooperation.

These experiences show that maintaining momentum on establishing a cashless economy in developing countries will require sustained public-private collaboration, evidence-led policy, and citizen-centred innovation.

Research priorities to shape inclusive financial policy

Rwanda’s experience with its digital finance transition brings up important knowledge gaps and areas for future research:

1. There is a need for longitudinal studies on how digital payments influence economic outcomes such as firm growth, household resilience, and job creation.
2. It is important to understand how responsive digital payment volumes are to pricing and taxation, the elasticity of digital payments, and the trade-offs users make between cost, speed, and trust.
3. As Rwanda explores a potential central bank digital currency, research should focus on user experience, offline access, interoperability, and integration with existing financial tools.
4. Exploring what regulatory frameworks foster innovation while protecting users, and examining the impacts of regulatory sandboxes, fintech licensing, and data protection rules can support smarter policy.
5. Evidence is needed on which interventions – whether digital literacy, device subsidies, or social norms change – would most effectively improve women's usage of digital payments and help close the gender gap in digital finance.
6. More research is needed on how digital finance affects monetary policy and its transmission.

These issues matter to academics and policymakers alike – they are essential for shaping inclusive, evidence-based financial policy.

The road ahead: Building an inclusive digital economy

Rwanda's cashless journey reflects a broader vision of digital transformation in which financial technology drives inclusive growth. But inclusion must be intentional – going cashless must not mean leaving behind the digitally unconnected.

This means investing in mobile infrastructure, digital education, and fair pricing. It means building regulatory frameworks that are agile, inclusive, and transparent. And it means embedding research and evidence into every stage of policy design.

The BNR–IGC conference reinforced a key message: the cashless economy is not an end in itself, but a tool to support shared prosperity. 

Rwanda has shown what can be achieved: The next phase is to ensure that the digital revolution delivers for everyone.