ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
To find the minimum and maximum values of dimension i among all of the countries, no distinction by gender was made, given that the goal is to assess whether there is a difference between the value for the dimension of the country by gender.
To consolidate the three dimensions in one indicator, the average of the Euclidean distance between the value from 𝑋1 to 0 is employed (as in equation (2) below) .
In that manner, a value that is greater than 𝑋1 indicates better financial inclusion for the country under analysis.
The 𝑋2 formula (equation (3)) is the inverse of the Euclidean distance between 𝑋 and the ideal value of the index.
Similarly, a higher value for 𝑋2 indicates better financial inclusion.
The financial inclusion index by gender and country is obtained from the simple average between 𝑋1 and 𝑋2, values of which were obtained for men and women (equation (4)).
15 The FII is classified according to Sethy (2016) in the following categories: FII Range Category 0.6 < FII ≤ 1 High financial inclusion 0.4 < FII ≤ 0.6 Medium financial inclusion 0 ≤ FII ≤ 0.4 Low financial inclusion Results – Financial Inclusion Index by gender4 Country Women Men Gender gap Albania 0.25 0.30 0.04 Algeria 0.14 0.39 0.24 Argentina 0.38 0.34 -0.04 Armenia 0.29 0.44 0.15 Australia 0.87 0.87 0.00 Austria 0.81 0.81 0.00 Bangladesh 0.21 0.49 0.28 Belarus 0.67 0.66 0.00 Benin 0.13 0.33 0.20 Bolivia 0.39 0.41 0.02 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.44 0.52 0.08 Botswana 0.32 0.41 0.09 Brazil 0.54 0.58 0.04 Bulgaria 0.68 0.64 -0.04 Burkina Faso 0.20 0.38 0.17 4 The gap is measured as the difference between the financial inclusion index of women and men.
Country Women Men Gender gap Cambodia 0.07 0.07 0.00 Canada 0.85 0.85 0.00 Chile 0.57 0.65 0.08 China 0.61 0.68 0.07 Colombia 0.29 0.37 0.08 Costa Rica 0.48 0.63 0.15 Croatia 0.71 0.80 0.09 Cyprus 0.83 0.80 -0.03 Czech Republic 0.69 0.73 0.05 Denmark 0.85 0.85 0.01 Dominican Republic 0.40 0.45 0.04 Ecuador 0.28 0.45 0.16 El Salvador 0.11 0.25 0.13 Estonia 0.81 0.81 -0.01 Finland 0.80 0.80 0.00 France 0.82 0.86 0.04 Georgia 0.53 0.48 -0.05 Germany 0.82 0.82 0.00 Ghana 0.39 0.49 0.09 Guinea 0.04 0.13 0.08 Greece 0.71 0.73 0.02 Guatemala 0.32 0.35 0.04 Haiti 0.15 0.20 0.05 Honduras 0.28 0.38 0.10 Hong Kong SAR, China 0.81 0.82 0.01 Hungary 0.61 0.66 0.05 India 0.50 0.57 0.07 Indonesia 0.36 0.32 -0.05 Iran, Islamic Rep.
0.78 0.83 0.06 Iraq 0.05 0.11 0.06 Ireland 0.82 0.82 0.00 Israel 0.80 0.79 -0.01 Italy 0.85 0.89 0.04 Japan 0.86 0.87 0.01 Jordan 0.14 0.44 0.30 Kazakhstan 0.46 0.43 -0.04 Country Women Men Gender gap Korea, Rep.
0.81 0.80 0.00 Kosovo 0.30 0.49 0.19 Kuwait 0.60 0.70 0.10 Kyrgyz Republic 0.25 0.27 0.02 Lao PDR 0.17 0.11 -0.06 Latvia 0.79 0.79 0.01 Lebanon 0.22 0.45 0.24 Libya 0.43 0.53 0.11 Lithuania 0.68 0.71 0.03 Luxembourg 0.96 0.97 0.01 Macedonia 0.66 0.60 -0.06 Malta 0.84 0.85 0.01 Mauritania 0.02 0.12 0.10 Mauritius 0.70 0.77 0.07 Malaysia 0.63 0.70 0.07 Mexico 0.20 0.28 0.08 Moldova 0.34 0.32 -0.02 Montenegro 0.59 0.61 0.02 Morocco 0.08 0.30 0.22 Mozambique 0.18 0.36 0.18 Myanmar 0.11 0.11 0.00 Nepal 0.27 0.34 0.07 Netherlands 0.82 0.82 0.01 New Zealand 0.86 0.86 0.00 Nigeria 0.13 0.37 0.24 Nicaragua 0.11 0.24 0.13 Norway 0.81 0.81 0.00 Panama 0.30 0.38 0.08 Paraguay 0.33 0.39 0.05 Peru 0.20 0.37 0.17 Philippines 0.25 0.16 -0.09 Poland 0.79 0.76 -0.03 Portugal 0.79 0.82 0.03 Romania 0.43 0.51 0.08 Russian Federation 0.65 0.64 -0.01 Rwanda 0.31 0.42 0.11 Saudi Arabia 0.43 0.65 0.23 Senegal 0.25 0.33 0.08 Country Women Men Gender gap Serbia 0.60 0.63 0.03 Singapore 0.79 0.81 0.02 Slovak Republic 0.73 0.76 0.02 Slovenia 0.82 0.85 0.03 South Africa 0.54 0.54 0.00 Spain 0.86 0.91 0.05 Sri Lanka 0.53 0.55 0.02 Sweden 0.84 0.84 0.00 Switzerland 0.89 0.88 -0.01 Thailand 0.62 0.65 0.02 Togo 0.22 0.38 0.16 Trinidad and Tobago 0.58 0.69 0.11 Turkey 0.42 0.68 0.27 Uganda 0.39 0.53 0.14 Ukraine 0.47 0.51 0.04 United Arab Emirates 0.62 0.76 0.14 United States 0.83 0.83 0.00 Uruguay 0.48 0.55 0.07 Uzbekistan 0.27 0.30 0.03 Vietnam 0.16 0.17 0.01 Zambia 0.26 0.37 0.11 Zimbabwe 0.39 0.46 0.08 Source: Author’s computation References Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
Policy Framework to Support Women’s Financial Inclusion.
March 2016. womenfi.1_0.pdf Bucher-Koenen, Tabea, Annamaria Lusardi, and Rob J.M.
Alessie.
How Financially Literate Are Women?
An Overview and New Insights.
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August 2016.
Emefiele, Godwin.
The Need to Finance SMEs by Nigeria Banks.
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41(13).
Fuentes, Angelica.
Women’s Financial Inclusion: A Pathway to Sustainable Development.
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
February 2018. sustainable-development International Finance Corporation.
Digital Finance Services: Challenges and Opportunities for Emerging Markets.
Thought Leadership, Note 42.
August 2017.
2982a7dfda69/EMCompass+Note+42+DFS+Challenges+updated.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CV ID=lTM-26u Reinsch, Myka.
Youth Financial Inclusion: Promising Examples for Achieving Youth Economic Empowerment.
European Microfinance Platform with e-MFP Youth Financial Inclusion Action Group.
2012. financial-inclusion- promising-examples-achieving-youth-economic-empowerment Salawu, Rafiu O., Adegbie, Folajimi F., Oladejo, Olufemi F. Access to Credit Facilities and Tax Compliance Among SMEs: Evidence from Nigeria.
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 3(3).
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Financial Inclusion and Development: A Cross Country Analysis.
Journal of International Development, 23(5).
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Sethy, Susanta.
Developing a Financial Inclusion Index and Inclusive Growth in India.
Theoretical and Applied Economics, 23(2).
Summer 2016. susanta-kumar-sethy/a1191/ Vannak, Chea.
Cambodia: More Phones Than People.
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Overview: National Financial Inclusion.
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Global Findex Database.
Enam Yawa Kodade works at Bank of Ghana within the Payment Systems Department with an overall role of ensuring a sound payment system that achieves sustainable economic growth.
This includes the promotion of a safe and efficient payment and settlement systems in Ghana to engender price and financial stability.
Enam’s role within the Bank include creating an enabling regulatory environment to deepen the Ghanaian payments ecosystem that promotes financial inclusion and digital financial services.
Enam has previously worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP , AMETrade, United Kingdom, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ghana.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana and a master’s degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) - University of London.
Sok Heng is currently a deputy director of the Economic Research and International Cooperation of the National Bank of Cambodia.
He is involved in the assessment of the ongoing economic and financial devel- opments of Cambodia to propose policy instruments to the high-level Monetary Policy Committee with the objective of maintaining price stability.
Moreover, he is a member of the Financial Stability Committee.
He previously worked as an economist in the governor’s office and analyst in the Foreign Exchange Manage- ment Department.
Before joining the National Bank of Cambodia in 2009, he worked for a microfinance insti- tution.
His research interests include financial inclusion, financial development, international economics, and applied econometrics.
He holds a Master of Arts in International Development Program from the International University of Japan and a PhD in Economics from the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Andrea Fernández is Analyst at the Regulation Departament of the Superintendence of Banks, Insurance and Private Pension Funds - Lima, Perú (SBS), where she started working as intern for the Banking Supervision Department in 2015.
In 2017, she attended the Extension Program of SBS, a specialized education program in the area of financial system, insurance and pension funds.
Following that, she worked as Analyst at the Research Department of that institution.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad del Pacífico - Lima, Perú.
Born in Ayedaade Local Government Council of Osun State, Dr.
Oladejo obtained his BSc, MSc, MMP and PhD degrees in Accounting from Ambrose Ali University, University of Ibadan, and Babcock Universi- ty, respectively.
Presently, he is a Senior Bank Examiner with the Central Bank of Nigeria and is current- ly serving as a committee member on CBN Corporate Governance Scorecard for Deposit Money Bank in Nigeria, and for the Interdepartmental Committee on CBN Cash-Less Policy.
In September 2018, Dr.
Oladejo was honoured by The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for an outstanding performance and a high level of professionalism displayed on the special assignment carried out on behalf of the bank and the Nigerian state.
His previous employment includes Wema Bank Plc, Tolad Farm, National Bank Limited, Intercontinental Bank Plc, and First Bank of Nigeria Limited where his branch was rated one of the top 10 in South West Nigeria.
He is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria and the Institute of Cost Management.
He also holds fellowships in three prestigious institutes: Fellow Member Institute of Credit Administration (FICA), Fellow Member Institute of Capital and Entrepreneurial Management of Nigeria (FCEM), and Fellow Association of Forensic Accounting Researchers (FFAR).
OLUFEMI OLADEJO SENIOR BANK EXAMINER, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA ENAM YAWA KODADE PAYMENT SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT, BANK OF GHANA SOK HENG LAY DEPUTY DIRECTOR - ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, NATIONAL BANK OF CAMBODIA ANDREA FERNANDEZ TINOCO ANALYST-REGULATION DEPARTMENT, SUPERINTENDENCE OF BANKS, INSURANCE AND PRIVATE PENSION FUNDS - LIMA, PERÚ (SBS), HONOURABLE MENTION AWARDEES WINNER 2019 TORONTO CENTRE ESSAY COMPETITION
GHANA ECONOMIC FORUM 2019 WELCOME STATEMENT BY DR.
ERNEST ADDISON GOVERNOR, BANK OF GHANA OCTOBER 30, 2019 TANG PALACE HOTEL ACCRA, GHANA Your Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana Honourable Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance Honourable Alan Kyeremanteng, Minister of Trade and Industry Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers here present CEOs and Representatives from the Financial Sector and Business Community Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen Introduction 1.
Good morning to you all and welcome to the 2019 Ghana Economic Forum .
A few weeks ago I got a call from our senior citizen, Mr.
Kwame Pianim , about B&FT and the Ghana Economic Forum and the need for sponsors for the programme.
I agreed with him to become a strategic policy partner f or this event, as the Bank of Ghana believes that such a forum will provide policymakers, industry experts, and the business community a platform to deliberate and offer solutions on pertinent issues affecting our economy.
Therefore, before I proceed further, l et me commend the Business and Financial Times (BFT) for their relentless efforts in organising this event over the past seven years.
Also, l et me express our appreciation to all the sponsors who have contributed resources to make this programme a success over the years.
We all acknowledge the busy schedule of our President and therefore deem it a great honour for His Excellency, the President to be with us this morning and to deliver the keynote address.
Your Excellency, we very much appreciate your presence and support for this programme.
Your Excellency, Distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen, the theme for this year’s Ghana Economic Forum is: “Sustaining Financial and Economic Stability: the key Priorities”.
This theme was carefully chosen against the back ground of developments in the economy over the last three years.
We have achieved a good degree of macroeconomic stabilisation, under a fiscal and monetary regime oriented towards disinflation.
This framework includes an independent monetary policy coordinated with a prudently set fiscal framework including strict public expenditure management.
This framework has delivered low inflation and well -anchored inflation expectations around our medium -term target which serves as the bedrock for private sector investments, busines s growth, structural transformation and overall economic expansion.
It is incumbent on us, as policymakers to demonstrate strong commitment to this policy framework in the near -term to ensure that the gains achieved so far are sustained.
Achieving macroeco nomic stability takes deliberate policies, sacrifices and resources which if not sustained, can easily unravel.
I believe this is one of the reasons why we have gathered here to get a sense of the policy direction needed to sustain the stable macro environment, going forward.
Your Excellency, I can report that under your leadership, the policies that we put into place in 2017 are yielding the right results.
The economic indicators are good in terms of inflation, external account balances, reserves, GDP growth and business confidence.
We have not only made significant gains in stability through prudent monetary and fiscal policies but also in regulatory and structural reforms , especially in the banking sector .
This is key to unlocking the financial sector’s capacity to intermediate efficiently with increased access to credit in support of the country’s growth agenda.
Indeed, the thrust of current debate is not only about sustainability but also about scaling up broad -based growth for poverty reduction and increased employment.
Wh at can be done to consolidate the gains we have made and transition to high and durable growth without putting stability at risk?
I will not try to answer these questions but briefly note that sustain ing macroeconomic stability, increas ing access to cr edit, providing good infrastructure, having strong regulatory frameworks , and most importantly developing a skilled workforce are all necessary conditions that create the conducive environment for job creation and inclusive growth.
Your Excellency, for us at the Bank of Ghana the outlook from the monetary policy perspective is to try to understand th e nature of the trade -offs between monetary stabilisation, that is, stabilizing inflation at low levels – perhaps reviewing our medium -term target to a lower l evel, and economic growth.
Monetary policy will remain vigilant to deal with inflation pressures should they emerge.
Further, the Bank of Ghana has taken steps to build reserve buffers, to address potential risks from the external or domestic sectors.
Currently, the country’s gross international reserves is estimated at around US$8 billion and expected to increase with additional inflows from the cocoa syndicated loan.
We are also deepening the foreign exchange market through the introduction of new prod ucts to improve liquidity and ensure stability in the local currency.
President, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, beyond these broad policy objectives, I believe some of the pertinent issues that should help entrench macroeconomic stability and allay fears of the investment community and private sector will be fully addr essed during the plenary sessions.
These include sustaining macroeconomic stability through election cycles; infrastructural development to support the productive sector and trade; digitisation of the economy to enhance efficiency; scaling up human capital development which is critical for sustainable growth and development, and last but not least, sustaining fin ancial stability after the clean-up exercise.
I believe that we will have fruitful deliberations from the distinguished panellists assembled for the various sessions.
Launch of the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index 2019 Keynote Address by Dr.
Maxwell Opoku- Afari, First Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana The Ritz-Carlton Washington Hotel 1150 22nd Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20037 07:20 – 07:30 AM Ministers of Finance Governors of Central Banks Management and Representatives of OMFIF Management and Representatives of ABSA Executives of Financial Institutions Present Representatives of the IMF Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen A very Good Morning to you all 1.
Let me first begin by thanking OMFIF for extending an invitation to me to be the keynote speaker at the launch of the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index 2019.
It is indeed a great pleasure to be able to join you today and to also join such seasoned distinguished guest s to deliberate on important issues bordering on capital market development, benchmarking regulation against global standards, overcoming regional integration challenge s, and the use of new technology and data sharing to improve efficiency and innovation on the African continent.
These are critical issues that confront African countries as they strive to attract foreign investment for sustainable development and poverty reduction.
The ABSA African Financial Markets Index was first launched in 2017 by OMFIF and Barclays Africa Group (now ABSA Group Limited) through extensive quantitative and qualitative research and analysis.
It is in its third year and has become a key reference point in the assessment of the development of African Financial Markets.
The Index assesses countries according to six pillars: market depth, access to foreign exchange, market transparency, tax and regulatory environment, capacity of local investors, macroeconomic opportunity and the legality and enforceability of standard financial markets master agreements.
In 2018, the index increased its coverage to include Angola, Cameroun and Senegal, which brings to twenty the number of African countries covered.
Over the years, there have been new initiatives and policies by the countries covered under the survey that have led to growth in their Financial Markets and consequently, in the wider African financial sector.
Most countries have shown progres s in their financial sectors over the last two years of ranking by focusing on one or more of the pillars.
Kenya, Morocco and the Seychelles have had the largest improvement in their rankings over the last year, particularly with respect to access to for eign exchange.
Nigeria’s score has also strengthened, due to policies augmenting market depth and enhancing the capacity of local investors.
The index has therefore served as a guide to where analyst and policy makers must focus in trying to improve their financial markets to attract investors.
This year’s edition is to focus on policy and market development initiatives and will undoubtedly boost developments in the regional financial markets.
Ladies and gentlemen permit me to share with you how the ABSA Financial Markets Index is helping to shape the policy dialogue in Ghana.
The 2017 Barclays Africa (now ABSA) African Financial Markets Index, noted that of the six pillars used in the assessment of African financial markets, improving the legal and regul atory frameworks through establishing the legality and enforceability of standard financial markets master agreements of the Ghanaian financial markets could provide a major boost and enhance liquidity in the bonds and equities markets.
The results of the Barclays survey noted that in Ghana, ISDA documentation (International Swap and Derivatives Association) was well recognized but Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) was in limited use, Global Master Securities Lending Agreement (GMSLA) was rarely us ed and the insolvency framework needed to be strengthened.
Therefore in 2017, a stakeholder committee in Ghana, led by the central bank agreed on key reform measures that could improve the legal framework for the financial markets in Ghana.
These included the adoption of GMRA for repo trading and at a later stage the GMSLA for securities lending, the linking of the local Central Securities Depository (CSD) to international clearing platforms like Euroclear and the strengthening of the insolvency framework in Ghana.
The result of these reform initiatives is the publishing of guidelines for a GMRA -based repo trading in Ghana, a Country Annex and country annexes that was just yesterday launched herein Washington D.C.
Apart from being a vital source of secu red financing for banks and financial institutions, and a key tool for the implementation of monetary policy, repos also offer a low -risk and liquid investment for cash, as well as the efficient management of liquidity and collateral by financial firms an d can be used to hedge or modify the risk profile of portfolios.
Netting rights and setoffs are generally recognized and upheld under Ghanaian law.
With respect to the banking sector, the BoG will issue a notice to clarify the recognition of netting arrangements in financial contracts in the Banks and Special Deposit Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) in support of efforts to recognize Ghana as a netting positive jurisdiction.
Our experiences in Ghana as a major destination for higher yield -seeking non- resident investors, tells us that access to foreign exchange, the Pillar 2 of the ABSA Financial Market Index, is an important consideration for both bond and equity investors.
These investors many times would like to repatriate coupon proceeds, sometimes principal repayments on matured bonds and dividends in hard currency.
This is more so during periods of tighter global financing conditions.
It is therefore important to develop liquid, deep and efficient domestic interbank markets that can support these foreign investors to give them the required comfort to continue to invest in our markets.
It is our view that a liquid interbank market can be well supported when the central bank has adequate foreign reserves.
It is for this reason that the Ba nk of Ghana ha s in the past few years focused on building on our foreign reserve buffers to support our price stability mandate.
The capacity of local investors, pillar 4 of the Absa Africa Financial Market Index is an important pillar which becomes more critical going forward.
In Ghana, we are beginning to realize the important role that institutional investors such as our pension funds, asset managers and insurance firms could play in not only financing part of government budget but also providing long -term funding for capital projects.
This has become important as we seek to find the right balance between domestic and foreign sources of funding.
That said, there is more work to be done as we seek to develop the domestic market to enhance efficiency and create the needed market for capital.
Let me, at this juncture, turn attention to how we can leverage on new technology and data sharing to improve efficiency and innovation on the African continent .
Presently, Ghana is transitioning to a new kind of retail banking system where a large segment of the population previously unbanked, are being absorbed into the financ ial services sector, via, mobile money.
To further expand access to financial services, the Bank of Ghana and Government are initiating policies to further strengthen the financial and payment systems to foster smooth delivery of financial services and eng ender financial inclusion.
Some of these policies included agent registry, national identification exercise and digital property address system.
Let me share a few of the initiatives that are already in train: 14.
Developing an Agency Registry: Agency network has become an important channel for delivering financial services at affordable cost.
A digital Agent Registry is rolled out by the Bank of Ghana in collaboration with payment services providers to enhance identification and provide oversight of a gent’s business.
The Registry focuses on mapping and capturing of data on all agent access points and facilitating customers’ access to preferred agent point for convenient and efficient service delivery.
The register will also be used to inform stakeholde rs on operations of agents in violation of regulatory and prudential requirements.
Citizenry Identification through activities of the National Identification Authority: The banking industry, through the initiative of the Bank of Ghana, co - operated with th e National Identification Authority (NIA) to implement a national identification system that meets the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) requirements of the banking sector.