The Ministry of Finance has announced that plans are underway to enroll workers in the informal sector on to a digital platform to improve financial security in the sector.
The move forms part of efforts by government to digitize Ghana’s economy particularly the informal sector to ensure greater financial inclusion and security.
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Head of Development Finance at the Ministry of Finance, Godwin Anku disclosed this at the launch of the Global Findex 2017 survey by the World Bank.
Seven million Ghanaians do not have bank accounts and some 1.4 million farmers still receive cash payments. This according to the World Bank
The report also shows that access to formal financial services in Ghana has grown from 29% in 2011 to 58% in 2017, a result of the expansion in Ghana’s mobile money industry.
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Despite the growth, the figure still falls short of government’s Maya Declaration target of 70% by 2017.
Mr. Godwin Anku indicated that the Finance Ministry is working to remove barriers to mobile money transactions.
This he says will open up the financial space to include more customers.
He added that digitizing the informal sector will allow government gather adequate data to engage stakeholders and meet the challenges in that sector.
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He explains that the ecosystem when created will reduce the risks associated with carrying cash. This, according to him, will inject more convenience into business transactions while creating employment for many more Ghanaians.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana says it has started enrolling all mobile money agents in the country on to a database that will provide adequate data to assist financial policy formulation by the finance ministry.
Mobile money agents will also be given unique identification numbers to facilitate easy regulation.