Ghana’s financial inclusion rate has climbed to 81 per cent, with growth largely driven by mobile money agents and basic phone-based transactions, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has announced.
The central bank said the milestone underscored the impact of building financial systems around existing infrastructure, enabling broader access to banking and digital services across the country.
Mrs Matilda Asante Asiedu, Second Deputy Governor of the BoG, disclosed this at the 2026 3i Africa Summit held in Accra on Friday.
She said Ghana’s experience showed that large-scale financial inclusion could be achieved without heavy dependence on smartphones or internet connectivity.
“Anyone and everyone can send money from a phone with no internet connection, no smartphone, no app, no data plan just a basic phone and a USSD code,” she stated.
Mrs Asiedu explained that the system, anchored on widespread mobile network coverage, had opened up formal financial services to millions of previously excluded people, including access to payments, savings, and insurance.
She cited data from the World Bank indicating that Ghana’s inclusion rate had reached 81 percent, attributing the progress to deliberate system design aligned with technologies already widely used by the population.
According to her, Africa’s digital financial future depends on investing in infrastructure tailored to local realities, rather than adopting models reliant on high-end devices and constant internet access.
Drawing lessons from Ghana’s journey, Mrs Asiedu highlighted three key drivers of success: the use of basic mobile networks for transactions, the expansion of mobile money agent networks, and interoperability across service providers.
She noted that basic mobile network usage had enabled farmers, traders, and rural households to access financial services without smartphones, while agent networks continued to play a crucial role in providing cash access nationwide.
Mrs Asiedu added that interoperability between mobile money platforms had helped create a unified payments ecosystem, strengthening digital finance as a key component of national infrastructure.
On investment, she stressed that predictable payment systems, clear regulatory frameworks, and robust consumer protection measures were essential to attract capital into Africa’s digital economy.
“To attract more investment into Africa’s digital economy, we must build the architecture that allows innovation to grow. That includes trusted payment systems, digital public infrastructure that supports identity and access, consumer protection that builds confidence, and regulatory coordination that enables businesses to scale across borders,” she said.
She urged policymakers to shift focus from policy formulation to implementation, emphasising the importance of functional digital systems that support large-scale participation in economic activities.
Mrs Asiedu said while Africa held strong potential for financial innovation, deeper integration of systems across countries was needed to unlock scale and efficiency.
“Trust is at the heart of any financial transaction. Coordination and the discipline to build systems that are inclusive by design, that is what building on Africa’s terms looks like, and that is the foundation for our digital future,” she added.
