Nairobi, Feb. 17 -- Small businesses have attributed their apathy towards the East African Payment System (EAPS) to its focus on high-value transactions between commercial banks, locking them out. They say that the system, in its current format, is a deterrent to cross-border interoperability of digital payments.

"This is a missed opportunity because micro entrepreneurs, 70 percent of whom are women, are the backbone of East Africa's economy. Their limited digitalisation is hindering financial inclusion-commerce and cross-border trade in the region," Netherlands-based think-tank European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) says in a discussion paper dated October 2023.

According to ECDPM, which is working on international c...