Digital payments now account for more than half of all financial transactions in Ghana, underscoring the country’s rapid transition to a cash-light economy, Mr Abdul Razak Issaka-Ali, Chief Commercial and Operations Officer of MobileMoney Fintech Limited (MMFL), has said.
Mr Issaka-Ali said Ghana’s digital finance ecosystem had recorded significant growth over the past decade, positioning the country among the world’s leading adopters of digital payments.
In an interview, he said although cash remained an important means of payment, digital channels had become the preferred option for many consumers and businesses.
According to him, Ghana had reached a stage where between 50 and 60 percent of financial transactions were conducted digitally.
“If you look at digital payments versus cash, we estimate that Ghana is now about a 50 to 60 percent cash-light economy. We have made significant progress, but there is still room for growth,” he said.
Mr Issaka-Ali attributed the country’s progress to the collective efforts of financial institutions, payment service providers, fintech companies, the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) and the Bank of Ghana.
He said the collaboration had strengthened the country’s digital payments ecosystem, making electronic transactions more accessible, reliable and secure for individuals and businesses.
Mr Issaka-Ali noted that international assessments ranked Ghana among the top three countries globally in terms of digital transactions as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reflecting the country’s rapid adoption of electronic payment systems.
“The achievement is not the work of one institution. It is the result of an entire payments ecosystem working together to make digital financial services accessible to more Ghanaians,” he said.
He said the growing use of digital payments was improving the operations of small and medium-sized enterprises by enhancing efficiency and reducing the risks associated with handling physical cash.
Merchant payment solutions, he said, were helping businesses minimise cash leakages and theft while providing owners with real-time visibility over transactions and stronger financial controls.
“We have developed solutions that allow business owners to have full visibility over payments while limiting direct access to business funds. This improves accountability and gives entrepreneurs greater confidence in managing their businesses,” he said.
Mr Issaka-Ali said digital transaction records were also expanding access to credit for small businesses, as financial institutions increasingly relied on transaction histories, rather than traditional collateral, to assess the creditworthiness of entrepreneurs.
