Africa Set to Test Critical Minerals-Backed Currency

Africa’s move is aimed at decreasing dependence on foreign powers for money and gaining maximum reward from the continent’s natural resources.
Africa Set to Test Critical Minerals-Backed Currency
A miner displays diamonds dug out of a disused mine in Komaggas, South Africa, in June 2012. Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images
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JOHANNESBURG—Major countries and regional blocs in Africa are throwing their weight behind an ambitious plan to establish a “non-circulating” currency backed by critical minerals, which are crucial to technological development, defense, and economic growth.

Analysts say a denomination based on commodities could reduce Africa’s reliance on foreign currencies—especially the U.S. dollar—and decrease its dependence on loans from China, Europe, the United States, and global financial institutions like the World Bank.