Ghana has been recognized as the only African country to achieve 100% access to financial inclusion on the continent.
The 2022 edition of the State of Inclusive Instant Payment in Africa Report was organized and launched by AfricaNenda at the ongoing Mobile World Congress Africa 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The recognition was achieved through the implementation of the Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI) system, which merges all payment platforms across banks, telcos, and fintech allowing every Ghanaian to make and receive payments instantly.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the launch on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, expressed delight stating that the Government’s Digitalization Agenda which began in 2017 has yielded desired results touching almost every aspect of national life.
“It is also comforting to note that even the credit reference agencies are leveraging on this infrastructure, the digital infrastructure that we have put in place, digital addresses, national ID, and so on. We are expecting that individual credit scoring by the credit reference agencies will start taking place by the first quarter of next year, which will allow and underpin the development of a real credit system in Ghana which is very, very critical in terms of the development of this country.” The Vice President added.
Digital technology according to Dr. Bawumia has changed the way Africa’s financial service industry offers products and services to consumers. He noted that new financial service business models based on digital technologies are enabling inclusive access to financial services across diverse product types for consumers in the country.
“As a government, we realized it was imperative to adopt digital innovation to transform the economy. It is not a venture without opposition, and there are huge costs associated to get to our destination. However, we are unwavering as we are convinced the benefits will outweigh the costs, and these benefits are already beginning to show.”
“Thus far, we have introduced some interventions such as mobile money interoperability, digital renewal of National Health Insurance, implementation of the digital address system, the national ID card, paperless port system, and QR-Code, among others.”
“We are already seeing the impact of these digitization initiatives including efficient public service delivery by all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies on the Ghana.gov portal, combating corruption by removing the middle man, and also ghost names in many transactions, bringing more Ghanaians into the formal sector and driving domestic revenue mobilization, amongst others.” The Vice President said.
To enhance the growth in the system, Dr. Bawumia called for more collaboration between all players in the fintech ecosystem; banks, fintech, telecom companies, governments, regulators, and consumers to help in positioning Africa as a fintech innovation hub.
