‘Let’s empower individuals with financial literacy for effective participation in economy’
Financial literacy has been identified as the cornerstone to empower individuals to make well-informed financial decisions, manage finances effectively, and participate in the general economic system.
According to the Head of the Finance Component-Support to the Private and Financial Sector (PFS) Programme, German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ)-Ghana, Mrs Cynthia Odonkor, a better understanding of financial products offered to the citizenry through financial literacy would enable them to analyse their own financial situation and lead to better financial decision-making.
Mrs Odonkor was speaking in Accra last Thursday at the launch of the Financial Literacy and Education Campaign organised by GIZ and collaborated by the Bank of Ghana, German cooperation, and Ghana Microfinance Institutions Network (GHAMFIN).
The aim of the campaign, which was under the theme, ‘Enhancing Financial Education to Promote Financial Inclusion’, and expected to start this month, was to restore public confidence in the financial literacy across the country.
According to Mrs Odonkor, the sophisticated nature of the financial landscape due to technology had made the ability of citizenry to negotiate the array of financial products offered by different financial institutions a daunting task, especially for those who were economically disadvantaged.
“Some unscrupulous people also take advantage of the situation and a lot of people falling victims to ponzi schemes, financial scam, and fraudsters,” she added.
The Head of Programme Support to the Private and Financial Sector (PFS) at GIZ-Ghana, Dr Christian Jahn, in his opening remarks, said the German government, since 2006, had been supporting Ghana’s financial sector with the initial focus on literacy, consumer protection and initiatives in micro insurance.
However, he said the support provided by the German government now focused on the improvement of the supervisory and regulatory frameworks within Ghana’s financial sector.
Dr Jahn also said the financial support focused on improving Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) access to finance through the support to the Private and Finance Sector (PFS) programme.
He added that a global study on financial literacy conducted by the S&P Global Finlit Survey ranked Ghana in the 90th position out of 144 countries.
The Head of Insurance and Pensions at the Ministry of Finance ( MOF), Mrs Patience Arko-Boham, said the issue of financial literacy had become vital considering the challenges faced in the local financial landscape, which included financial decision-making.
The Head of Credit Reporting Unit of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Godfred Cudjoe, said it had implemented several financial literacy initiatives to educate the general public on issues relating to the banking sector.
He indicated that the BoG had a Financial Literacy Unit within the Financial Stability Department that implemented its financial literacy initiatives.
BY PRECIOUS NYARKO BOAKYE
