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A World Bank report released this weekend made Ghana one of the fastest growing mobile money markets in Africa.
According to the report, mobile phone penetration has created opportunities for the expansion of financial services and has increased the role of non-financial institutions as much as issuers of e-money, positioning Ghana as the market for money. mobile money experiencing the fastest growth in Africa.
The 45-page report titled "Ghana's 4th Economic Update", which focuses on financial sector development and financial inclusion, further stated that this dynamic development indicated the potential of services and digital financial payments to strengthen financial inclusion in Ghana.
Speaking at the launch of Ghana's 4th Economic Update, Mr. Henry Kerali, Country Director at the World Bank, said that Ghana's economy has been recovering over the past two years. years.
He said it would be important to take advantage of the impetus created by the law on fiscal responsibility and to ensure the sustainability of fiscal sustainability in economic and political circles, emphasizing that greater mobilization of national resources would be the key to this effort.
Dr. Kerali recalled that this year's theme was: "Financial inclusion was timely"; considering the many developments in Ghana's financial sector in recent years, and commended the Government and the Bank of Ghana for taking bold steps to address the various challenges facing the financial sector.
Dr. Mawuli Gaddah, head of the Budget Risk Unit at the Ministry of Finance, said the 4th edition of Ghana Economic Update highlighted recent macroeconomic developments, provided a detailed badysis of recent developments in the financial sector and made policy recommendations.
He added that the ministry would use the report as an important reference document and take into account the proposed policy recommendations in its daily badysis and implementation.
He added that as Ghana seeks to establish an economic and social partnership with its development partners, they consider these commitments as an important part of their development agenda; adding that "we want to seize this opportunity to urge the World Bank to strengthen its engagement with the ministry".
The report acknowledged that despite the difficulties of establishing a more financially supportive economy, the number of financial access points has increased dramatically over the past five years.
He noted that growth was mainly related to the spread of mobile money and the facilitation of government interoperability among payment instruments by setting up a mobile money switching solution.
It also revealed that Ghana's annual economic growth remains solid, at 6.3% in 2018, but at a slower pace than that of 8.1% in 2017.
According to the report, this trend was mainly due to strong growth in the extractive, oil and agricultural industries and the continued expansion of forestry and logging.
According to the report, Ghana's economic growth is expected to reach 7.6 percent in 2019, driven by the oil and non-oil sectors.
He said growth in the non-oil sector should accelerate as policy interventions in agriculture and industry boost the productive sectors.
The report pointed out that despite the rapid growth of the financial sector in Ghana since 2010, the access of rural areas to formal financial accounts was still low in some parts of Ghana.
He also noted that Ghanaian women were less financially included than men.
In support of the government's efforts to strengthen financial inclusion in Ghana, the report made five recommendations; digitization of government payments and utility payments; linking informal financial channels with formal financial means; and promoting agent banking.
It also recommended that improved financial programs could stimulate demand for services, as they would give financial consumers the information they need to identify the benefits and risks of financial products.
The report highlighted the need to improve access to finance, saying the government should play a leading role in developing sound policies and / or legal frameworks to enforce data sharing.
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