When you first hear about Mauritania’s financial transformation, it seems almost too good to be true. At a supermarket on the dusty outskirts of Nouakchott, a phone, a QR code, and a payment cleared in a matter of seconds.
It’s the kind of minor incident that a reporter records and then files away because they suspect the real story is more complicated than the one presented in the marketing. Nevertheless, two years after PAMIF’s inception, the messiness has begun to appear like progress.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Country | Islamic Republic of Mauritania |
| Capital | Nouakchott (home to roughly one-third of population) |
| Surface Area | 1,030,700 km² — 11th largest in Africa |
| Population Density | Around 5 inhabitants per km² |
| Climate | Arid to hyperarid; over 75% desert |
| Key Project | Financial Infrastructure Modernisation Project (PAMIF) |
| Project Funding | $4.78 million |
| Funder | African Development Fund (AfDB Group) |
| Financial Inclusion (Before) | 21% |
| Financial Inclusion (Now) | Over 50% |
| Inflation Rate | Below 2% (down from double digits) |
| Bond Market | Maturities now extending up to 10 years |
| Borders | Atlantic Ocean, Western Sahara, Algeria, Mali, Senegal |
| Arable Land | Only 0.5% of territory |
You can get an idea of how difficult things used to be by speaking with Mohamedou Limam, the owner of Limam et Frères, a construction company. Prior to 2023, it could take two to five days, and occasionally longer, to pay a supplier located outside of the capital. With a kind of tired humor, he recounts the old routine: missed documents, phone calls, couriers, and late fees piling up like unpaid parking tickets. He now fixes anything that breaks at his site in Ně, which is almost a thousand kilometers east of Nouakchott. The work never ends. In a nation where distance has always been a barrier to trade, that in and of itself feels important.
Although it’s tempting to give credit to technology, the plumbing underneath is the more fascinating tale. The African Development Fund provided funding for the $4.78 million Financial Infrastructure Modernization Project, or PAMIF as it is known in French. For what it has unlocked, it’s actually a modest figure. The percentage of people who are financially included has more than doubled, from 21% to over 50%. The trajectory is difficult to ignore, but it remains to be seen if that number will hold when the headlines fade.
The banking system in Mauritania operated almost like muscle memory until late 2023. The image of bank employees physically transporting check envelopes between branches and the Central Bank seems out of the past. The percentage of data entry errors was close to 40%. Due to the travel time, a check deposited in Zouerate, 740 kilometers north of the capital, could take two weeks to clear. Imagine a paper document moving more slowly than the customer who wrote it over the course of a desert.
The head of payment systems at BMCI, the Mauritanian Bank for International Commerce, Salha Diallo, has closely observed the shift. Checks deposited between 8 a.m. and noon now settle by 3 p.m. on the same day. In 2023, her bank handled 5,000 transfers; in just the second half of 2025, that figure rose to 94,000. Until you recall how low the baseline was, the jump seems almost suspicious. Listening to her gives the impression that employees are still getting used to the slower system’s small daily rituals, the lack of paper, and dispatched envelopes.
A real-time settlement system now operates alongside the check platform for larger amounts and interbank transactions. The money is usable in five minutes. The uncertainty that accompanied the waiting has ended, which may be more significant.
The most important component of PAMIF might be the least obvious. Banks can now unlock liquidity against government securities with a single click thanks to an automated refinancing facility. The Central Bank’s Mohamed Ahmed Memoune describes it in an almost casual manner, but the implications are anything but. The central bank had been managing monetary policy for years with few resources, or, as he put it, “largely blind.” A bond market that hardly existed three years ago now offers maturities of up to ten years, and inflation has since decreased from double digits to less than two percent.
It’s difficult to ignore how subtly all of this has taken place. No viral announcements, no grand summits. Just a nation in the driest part of the Sahel, constructing bridges and railroads into its own financial system while the rest of the world looked elsewhere. Things that are more difficult to engineer, such as regional stability, political continuity, and the patience of investors who typically favor well-known brands, will determine whether the momentum continues. For now, though, there’s a sense that something genuine is emerging in the desert as Mauritania finds its footing.
