FiA_2015

Ghana
Ownership 21 Smartphone 14
Population: 26.7 million 19
Adult population over 15 years old
(% from MRV figures): 59.7
Non-smart
mobile phone
69
Nominal GDP/ Growth (2014): 38,648; 4.2
No phone 17
Percentage of Formally Banked 20 : 35
SUMMARY
In October 2015, the Ministry of Education in Ghana
held a workshop to finalise its framework on how best
to introduce and promote ICT into Ghana’s education
system. The event led to the finalisation of the
policy document needed to actualise the country’s
ambitions. In recent years the government in an
attempt to improve ICT in the country has distributed
over 60,000 laptops to school students. It has also
given over 50,000 teachers training on ICT as part of
its Better Ghana ICT Agenda 22 .
Within finances specifically, Ghana has recently
completed the implementation of the Ghana
Integrated Financial Management Information
System (GIFMIS) designed to modernise its budgeting
and public expenditure system; and improve the
efficiency of its revenue collection. The construction
of GIFMIS coincided with the eGhana project which
aimed to improve citizen access to information and
transaction capabilities 23 . The government (via the
Bank of Ghana – BOG) has aims to increase financial
inclusion and is doing this through MFS. Following talks
with financial services and telecommunication firms
it amended MFS regulations making the system less
“cumbersome” 24 .
In March 2014, The BOG also released its National
Payment Strategy – Strategic Payment Roadmap for
Ghana. Of its many initiatives was the development
of a Ghanaian Payments Council to address and
ensure ‘buy-in’ from the various stakeholders
involved in payment services. The Strategy also
included plans to develop ‘ePayment and eMoney
regulations’ by emulating the legislative practices
in Australia and India for the former, and UK for
the latter. Additionally it outlined the government’s
plans to ensure all employees in the country are
paid electronically by 2020.
On the ground
According to the National Communications Authority
(NCA) of Ghana, the number of mobile phone users
increased from 28.8 million in April 2014 to over 32.3
million in August 2015 25 . This figure shows mobile
phone ownership outnumbers Ghana’s population of
26.7 million by a ratio of 1:1.2.
The number of MFS users has increased rapidly
in recent years after a slow start. It has helped
improve access to financial inclusion by 16 percent
between 2010 and 2014 26 . The industry is led by MTN
Mobile Money, followed by Tigo with Tigo Cash, and
thirdly Airtel’s offering Airtel Money. Since it debuted
in 2009, MTN Mobile Money – the market leader – has
gained a subscriber base of 4.8 million with monthly
transaction volumes of over GHS 18.5 million ($4.6
million) per month.
MTN Mobile Money (Ghana)
4.8 million
Subscriber Base
18.5 million ($4.6 million)
per month
Transaction volumes
Besides the telecommunication companies operating
MFS, other non-bank and non-MNO companies also
14