Ghana currently has an active mobile money accounts of 19 millon driving the country’s digital financial sector an increase from 14 million prior to the emergence of COVID pandemic.
Mobile money interoperability grew strongly, recording 365% growth in volume and 651% growth on value between 2019 and 2020 and by September this year, interoperability transactions has grown by 216% in volume and 350% in value says the governor of Bank of Ghana -BoG at the 2021 Ghana Economic Forum.
Undoubtedly, it is clear the pandemic influenced many Ghanaians to enter the FinTech space. The changes in payment technology has made the use of technology in the financial services a necessity for the purpose of convinience, faster and low-cost transactions, he added.
He also added that several Central Banks of various countries are exploring Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), recognizing that money is an important commodity of a country and should be protected and Ghana is already in the piloting stage of CBDC which is to lead to the issuance of its digital currency E-cedis – a more stable and safer means of payment and settlement which will result in efficiency in Ghana’s payment system and promote financial inclusion.
He encouraged policymakers and regulators to leverage on the advantages that digitalization brings since it is now a part of the Ghanaian society.