ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
GIRSAL was designed to be a holistic and integ rated system of instruments designed to de-risk the agricultural sector and incentivize banks to lend to the sector to drive agribusiness development, and reduce capital constraints that limit competitiveness.
At the onset, BoG provided GH¢200 million seed capital and GH ¢10 million f or the set-up and operational expenses to GIRSAL.
However, in June 2018, BoG transferred its equity interest in GIRSAL Limited to the Government (Ministry of Finance), but continued to support the initiative in a nu mber of ways .
These include the approval of a zero-risk weighting of credit exposures covered by GIRSAL’s Credit Guarantee Scheme , which demonstrates the confidence the central bank assigns to GIRSAL’s CRG scheme, and thus , improving its credibility and attractiveness to financial institutions.
Additionally, BoG partnered with GIRSAL’s Technical Assistance Facility to develop and deliver agriculture and agribusiness finance training to financial institutions’ staff and management, with support from AGRA.
So far, 265 staff from 24 institutions have successfully completed this program at the National Banking College, with plans of extension to more institutions.
BoG also supports GIRSAL with banking sector data , alongside its supervision and regulation of GIRSAL’s activities.
Indeed, BoG is an invaluable partner to GIRSAL and looks forward to support its activities, including todays’ launch of an Agribusiness Public -Private Partnership Platform.
This newly created AG Platform should provide stakeholders the avenue to identify key bottlenecks in the agriculture and agribusiness value chain, stimulate discussions, and identify possible solutions to unlock the true potential of this industry.
3 7.
As a founding shareholder, BoG pledges its continued support for GI RSAL’s activities.
We expect that through the AG Platform, GIRSAL would continue to drive the policy discourse and develop innovative solutions to boost productivity and growth in the agricultural sector.
This should ultimately improve food supply conditions and help lower inflation .
We are confident in the operations of GIRSAL and its long term viability and we wish GIRSAL well in the years ahead.
LAUNCH OF GHANAPAY – MOBILE BANK WALLET FOR BANKS, SAVINGS AND LOANS COMPANIES AND RURAL AND COMMUNITY BANKS SPEECH BY DR ERNEST ADDISON GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA 15TH JUNE 2022 LABADI BEACH HOTEL, ACCRA Your Excellency, The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr.
Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, President of the Ghana Association of Banks, Mrs Mansa Nettey, The Chief Executive Officer, GhIPSS, Mr Archie Hesse, Chief Executives of Banks, Savings and Loans Companies, Representatives of Financial Institutions and Telecommunication Companies, Colleagues from Bank of Ghana, Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1.
Let me specially thank His Excellency, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr.
Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia for gracing this special occasion.
We acknowledge your contributions over the years and continued support towards the digitalisation agenda of the Country.
Ladies and Gentlemen, t oday’s launch of GhanaPay mobile wallet, marks yet another milestone in the digitisation of the financial system.
Banks in Ghana are re -inventing themselves and have continued to respond positively to the competitive nature of the payment system s, characterised by increased consumer preferences for convenien ce and frictionless payment options.
This collaborative effort of a common electronic wallet would enable economies of scale through pooling of r esources.
By establishing this common GhanaPay mobile wallet, the cost of testing any new technology for each bank is reduced and allows new ways of doing business.
Indeed, this is an exciting development for Ghana’s payment systems landscape and demonstrates how collaboration with the banking sector can proffer solutions for the transformation and deepening of the payments ecosystem.
The banking sector demonstrated its resilience with the ability to offer critical support to businesses and households during this pandemic .
The sector’s push for e lectronic payments , especially during the critical lockdown times , enabled businesses and the public to make and receive payment using digital wallet.
We also witnessed th e banks’ support to borrowers including moratoria, while ensuring that depositors funds were not compromised.
These interventions were underpinned by past reforms to strengthen and retool the banking sector, alongside enhanced compliance, and regulatory standards.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Ghana’s progress in migrating to electronic payment s has been laudable.
In less than a decade , GhIPSS Instant Pay transactions valued at GH¢420,000 in 2016 surged exponentially t o GH¢31.4 billion in 2021.
In tandem, both the value of mobile money transactions and registered mobile money agents also increased thirteen and four folds, respectively in 2021.
Another key development was that Ghana’s cash usage measured by Currency in Circulation as a ratio of Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) declined from 6.8 percent in 2016 to 4.7 percent in 2021.
In addition, Ghana’s cheque usage per capita, which was 25.67 in 2016 declined to 18.9 in 2021.
The emergence of new business models in the banking sector, together with partnerships with financial technology (FinTechs) companies in offering of payment-related services , have also helped to bridge the financial inclusion gap.
Beyond the opportunity to compete directly on product offerings and quality of services, th e bank -FinTech collaboration would help in the realisation of common objectives and enable participants achieve economies of scale in the expansion of the payment networks, as well as reach critical mass of financial inclusiveness in the country.
This collaboration is commendable and should therefore be sustained since payments represent an indispensable activity for businesses and individuals .
Improving efficiency in financial transactions through electronic payments would not only increase productivity, but also minimise cost s. Beyond this, and at the macro level, migration to electronic payment s also has the potential to improve Ghana’s competitiveness and efficiency in cross-border transactions.
The benefits from a successful migration to electronic payments in terms of efficiency, gains , and cost savings, are enormous and should be encouraged.
Today’s launch of GhanaPay is one of such innovations in the financial sector that seeks to address some of the challenges associated with the current bank centric model s by providing an open application that leverages on network infrastructure of the entire banking industry .
With GhanaPay , merchants do not necessarily need to maintain banking relationships with several banks to receive bill payments from other bank customers.
In addition, customers only need to maintain an account with a bank to make bill payments to the entire network of custome rs and merchants registered with GhanaPay.
GhanaPay , therefore, facilitates resource pooling from the entire banking industry and reduces duplication.
It is expected that the industry will be guided by this innovation and continue to retool and respond to the changing environment.
Beyond the tremendous success at m aking payments convenient and accessible to consumers , cash payments and ch eques usage remain prevalent, while electronic payment adoption is uneven across regions and segments of the population .
In this regard, t here exists opportunities for more inclusive and broad -based adoption of electronic payment.
With the introduction of GhanaPay, the banking sector can address this market gap through continuous collaboration to expand merchant acceptance with greater focus on lower tier merchants.
There is no doubt that the appropriate support for the payment systems value chain and public education, infrastructure light solutions such as the GhanaPay, can boost electronic payment acceptance.
The introduction of the GhanaPay is laudable, but there is still more room for expansion and banks must step up efforts to digitise the value chain for both merchants and users through digitisation of payments to distributors, wholesalers, and retail outlets.
Another important consideration is to enhance public confidence in the electronic payment systems to boost inclusive finance.
Payments data provides deep insight in the consumer and merchant behaviour.
Bank’s have an enormous responsibility to ensure that data is not unsecured or mishandled.
Data security, integrity and privacy form the basis of trust which is crucial for functioning of financial system.
Ladies and Gentlemen, going cashless is more than electronic payments.
It should be about putting the c onsumer at the centre of innovation for greater value creation in e -payment products that are competitively priced a nd frictionless.
While standardised and interoperable systems may enhance competition and efficiency, it may also bring new form s of risks on account of the interlinkages.
Banks must ensure operational resilience and constantly strengthen the cyber security of market infrastructures and endpoints against cyber-attacks.
To conclude, Ladies and Gentlemen, the introduction of GhanaPay complements the measures to accelerate Ghana’s migration to electronic payments and we encourage the banking sector to collaborate and further explore more pioneering ways to attain greater efficiency in the payments ecosystem.
On this note, let me congratulate GhIPSS and the banking industry again on the development of GhanaPay .
It is my fervent hope that this collaborative spirit will be sustained and enhanced to move the country towards a successful migration to electronic payments and an efficient and effective payment system.
FORMAL LAUNCH OF DEVELOPMENT BANK GHANA (DBG) REMARKS BY DR.
ERNEST ADDISON GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA 14TH JUNE 2022 1 His Excellency, The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Honourable Minister for Finance, Mr.
Ken Ofori-Atta Board of Directors, Managing Director, Key Management Personnel and Staff of Development Bank, Ghana Cherished Stakeholders of DBG Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen 1.
It is a great honour to join you all today as we officially l aunch the Development Bank Ghana (DBG).
This is a much -anticipated event and yet another milestone in Ghana’s financial sector .
Before I begin, let me acknowledge the Ministry of Finance, key stakeholders, and funding partners for the tireless efforts to move the DBG idea from conception to operationalisation.
I also commend the Board and Management of DBG for pushing the limits to establish the needed structures for the take -off and for organising this inaugural event.
Indeed, the commissioning of DBG to day, could not have come at a better time because g lobally, there is a resurgence in the establishment of new 2 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in developing countries .
This is largely due to the fact that existing DFIs have been unable to effectivel y address market gaps , facilitate meaningful increases in financial intermediation in terms of outreach and scale.
Ladies and Gentlemen , National Development Banks, along with multilateral Development Banks, play active roles in mobilizing public and priv ate sector resources to support critical economic sectors .
Overtime, the role of development banks has expanded to include finance for infrastructure expansion, environmentally green projects, as well as a wide range of developmental objectives.
Despite th ese, DFIs maintain the provision of medium to long-term finance and project finance at the core of their activities.
Ghana’s Financial System and Expectations for DBG 4.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all aware of the significant transformation that Ghana’s financial system has undergone over the past few years, which has broadened the range of financial services offered by financial intermediaries.
The recapitalization reforms, which predated the pandemic, together with the COVID-19 relief measures introduced by the Bank in the wake of the 3 pandemic, positioned banks to weather the storms associated with the pandemic and sustain lending to support economic activity.
Despite the supporting role of banks and S pecialized Deposit-taking Institutions (SDIs), there are shortcomings on the financial landscape which has a direct bearing on growth.
Banks and SDIs focus on short-term financing for commercial purposes with little support for long term financing needed to accelerate economic development and transformation .
Available data show that, less than 15 percent of loans granted by banks are for 5 years or longer , making investment in long gestation projects, especially for S mall Medium- sized Enterprises (SMEs) unviable.
Also, the share of bank credit to the agriculture and manufacturing sectors hover around 4 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
This d ata shows that only a small share of lending goes to key sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing relative to their shares in GDP and employment .
T his therefore , necessitates the establishment of modern market-oriented development finance institutions , which will focus on providing medium to long term financing to support key sectors of the economy.
This is what DBG brings on board.
While recognizing the very cru cial role of development banks , we need to also make it clear that their presence on the financial landscape is not designed to provide competition to the banks and SDIs, but rather, to work in a complementary fashion to ensure more longer-term finance to firms, an area that banks and SDIs are ordinarily unable to finance.
Such a successful synergy between banks and DFIs will ensure greater depth in Ghana’s financial sector.
Experiences f rom countries show that DFIs can play key developmental roles when well-structured, insulated from political interferences in operational decisions, and professionally managed along sound principles that balance development objectives with market realities.
Therefore, Bank of Ghana’s expectation is that DBG, together with the other DFIs that will be licensed by the Bank, would help address market failures in the Ghanaian credit markets, thereby helping businesses invest long -term, and promote economic growth and job creation.
5 Regulatory oversight 8.
Ladies and Gentlemen , there is broad international consensus that a strong regulatory and supervisory regime would have to underpin the operations of DFIs.
This consensus was made following the observation that inadequate regulation and supervisory framework and undue political i nterference were major contributory factors that led to the collapse of development banks in Africa during the 1960-80s.
It was on this premise that the Bank, working with other stakeholders, developed the legal, regulatory , and supervisory framework for these DFIs which culminated in the passage of the Development Finance Institutions Act, 2020 (Act 1032).
Act 1032 contains provisions on sound and prudent banking principles to guide effective operations of D evelopment Finance Institutions, such as capital and reserve requirements, liquidity requirements, ownership and control, corporate governance, restrictions on lending and investments, and financial reporting, amongst others, to ensure they are operationally efficient.
Provisions on corporate governanc e structures have been strengthened under the Act.
As a result , the Ownership, Governance and Operational Structures of DBG have been carefully designed to ensure that DBG is managed professionally to successfully carry out its economic transformational mandate.
As the regulator, the Bank will deploy the requisite tools to ensure effective regulation and supervision of DFIs.
Starting with the DBG, the Bank will also ensure that DFIs in Ghana operate in a financially sustainable manner, to achieve the development mandate, foster confidence, and attract more investments into the economy to support growth.
On this very issue, I wish to reiterate that the Bank of Ghana will hold the DBG to the same regulatory and supervisory standards that it holds banks and SDIs, while at the same time maintaining oversight of the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) that DBG will be working with.
The Bank of Ghana will strive to work in close partnership with DBG to achieve this, from two key angles.
First, in helping to safeguard and protect 7 DBG’s governance structures , and second, in working to create the right enabling environment both for DBG and its partners.
The DBG, alongside its partners, has the potential to be truly a catalytic entity in Ghana’s economic transformation.
On behalf of the Bank of Ghana, I would like to reaffirm our commitment to supporting DBG in its mission.
The relevance of the DBG is now needed more than ever and I urge all stakeholders to put in maximum efforts at making this work, this time round.
Thank you very much for the attention.
GHANA ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Boosting the AfCFTA: The Role of Payment and Settlement Systems Dr.
Ernest Addison Governor, Bank of Ghana Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Auditorium June 8, 2022 Chairperson, Emeritus Professor Isabella Quakyi [Vice President (Sciences) of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences], Council Members and Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Colleagues from Bank of Ghana, Fellow Speakers, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences for the kind invitation to participate in this forum .
Let me first applaud the Academy for its pioneering role of promoting studies, extension and dissemination of knowledge in the Arts and Sciences.
Since its establishment in 1959, the Academy has collaborated with other national institutions to research on important issues bordering on the sciences and humanities, which has shaped the public policy discourse and contributed to national development.
This year’s Public Forum, under the broad theme ‘African Continental Free Trade Area: Challenges and Prospects’ , is another demonstration of the Academy’s commitment to this great cause.
The previous speakers have covered other broad aspects of the theme, and this address will focus on ‘Boosting the AfCFTA: The Role of Payment and Settlement Systems’.
Why consider this topic while the global economy is plagued with a series of challenges?
Madam Chairperson , since 2020, the global economy has faced a series of shocks.
Just at the time that most of the world appeared to be moving past the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the global economy rebounding to 6.1 percent growth in 2021, after the 3.1 percent contraction in 2020, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has compounded global prospects and worsened supply -chain disruptions, exerted cost push pressures, and resulted in elevated inflationary pressures.
The recent lockdowns in key trade and manufacturing hubs in China due to the onset of another COVID-19 wave also compounded global supply disruptions and weigh down the post-COVID economic recovery.
In the April 2022 update of the World Economic Outlook, t he International Monetary Fund has projected some moderation in global growth from 6.1 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent in 2022 and 2023.
Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is also projected to soften to 3.8 percent in 2022, from 4.5 percent in 2021 , driven by war -induced commodity price shocks and elevated global inflation.
Madam Chairperson, Ghana has experienced a fair share of the prevailing global economic conditions.
Inflation surged to 27.6 percent in May 2022, from the 12.6 percent recorded at the end of 2021, driven by both food and non-food inflation.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the macroeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been broadly categorised into what is known as the 3D effects; these are: De-globalisation, Debt Overhang, and Digitalisation.
First, the drive for globalisation took a hit during the pandemic, with the imposition of lockdowns and travel restrictions to contain the spread of the virus, while protectionist sentiments pushed multilateralism to the back foot.
Second, sovereign debt levels have increased astronomically , especially in developing countries, following the implementation of pandemic - related fiscal stimulus packages and accommodative monetary policies to moderate the adverse effects of the pandemic.
Third, the pandemic protocols of physical distanc ing rules and virtual interactions provided an added impetus to the adoption of digital technologies.
Madam Chairperson, it has been argued that in the face of the se challenges, Africa can speed up its economic recovery by focusing on regional integration, infrastructural development , and targeted digitisation.
This brings to light the relevance and timeliness of this ongoing Forum on the African Continental Free Trade Area: Challenges and Prospects.
What are the objectives of and expected benefits from AfCFTA?
Broadly, AfCFTA aims to eliminate or reduc e tariff and non -tariff barriers among the 54 African countries to speed up intra -African trade and improve Africa’s trade performance in the global market .
There is a view that African countries can only be competitive globally if they are competitive regionally.
Therefore, AfCFTA by the creation of single large market for goods and services, creates opportunities to promote industrial development through diversification and regional value chain developme nt.
The Agreement is expected to enhance diversification of industrial products, develop regional value chains, and facilitate regional integration as well as cross border payments.
Regarding the expected benefits, AfCFTA , with its continent -wide vantage point and enhancing competition , provides opportunity for Africa to competitively integrate into the global economy, reduce poverty and promote economic inclusion.
The World Bank, for instance, estimates that implementatio n of AfCFTA would provide impetus for lifting an additional 30 million Africans from extreme poverty and 60 million from moderate poverty.
Real income could also increase by 7 percent or almost US$450 billion and there would be a boost in African trade, e specially intraregional trade in manufacturing.
The volume of total exports is projected to increase by nearly 29 percent by 2035.
Intra -African exports are also estimated to increase by almost 81 percent, while exports to non - African countries are expected to increase by 19 percent.
The Role of Payment and Settlement Systems in Boosting AfCFTA 8.
Madam Chairperson , an efficient and resilient payment and settlement systems infrastructure is fundamental to the promotion of intra-African trade.
A supportive payment and settlement system can be used as a strategic tool to enhance and facilitate the African regional integration drive, increase competitiveness , and improve Africa’s position in the international financial system.
A strong and well-regulated A frican financial infrastructure could deepen the benefits of intra -regional trade, eliminate use of third currency for settlement, improve liquidity management of firms , and reduce transaction costs.
Beyond the improved speed and lowering of cost of transactions, an integrated African payment and settlement systems would support AfCFTA by mitigating risks associated with intra -African trade payments and facilitate efficient functioning of African financial markets.
A safe, reliable and efficient national a nd cross -border payments system would, therefore, support African regional trade, foster development and promote financial stability.
Thus, to boost intra-African trade within AfCFTA, there is the need to invest in robust payment and settlement system infrastructure.
Over the last two decades, Ghana’s payment system has transformed, underpinned by innovation, competition , and digitalisation.
The journey started in 2002 with major changes in the payment ecosystem.
First, the Real Time Gross Settlement System was launched, which provided the platform for financial institutions to undertake real time wholesale electronic transfer of funds.