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Financial services players have launched an initiative to educate and empower Ghanaians with financial knowledge and information.
Known as Financial Literacy and Education Campaign (FLEC), it is being undertaken in collaboration with the German development cooperation (GIZ) and spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the Ghana Microfinance Institutions Network (GHAMFIN), the Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Company (GHASALC), the Micro-Credit Association Ghana (MCAG), and the Ghana Association of Micro-Finance Companies (GAMC).
It is to restore public confidence in the financial sector and increase the level of financial literacy across the country, with over a million people expected to benefit from the campaign.
The campaign was launched in Accra last Wednesday on the theme: “Enhancing Financial Education to Promote Financial Inclusion”.
The three-month campaign is expected to reach beneficiaries via television broadcasts, radio programmes in local and English Language, digital platforms and social media, as well as media interviews and public engagement at town hall meetings and the market.
The campaign will take place in five regions, namely the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions. It is focused on educating the public on how to identify need-based financial products and understand their rights and responsibilities as clients.
At the launch of the FLEC, the Head of Programme Support to the Private and Financial Sector at GIZ (PFS-GIZ), Dr Christian Jahn, described the campaign as a call to action dubbed: “Know your part, do your part”.
He said the campaign communicated that financial literacy was a shared journey which expected every stakeholder to play a significant role in achieving financial stability and prosperity for all, especially as the country had not been in good standing in financial literacy following a global study recently conducted.
“In a global study by S&P Global FinLit Survey that ranked 144 countries based on their financial literacy levels, Ghana placed 90th. The repercussions of the financial illiteracy are profound and far-reaching. Individuals may miss opportunities for growth and investment, fall prey to scams and fraudulent schemes, or rely on advice from those who have their interests at heart rather than their financial well-being,” he said.
A representative from the Financial Sector Division of MoF, Patience Arko-Boham, who delivered a remark on behalf of MoF, said the FLEC signified the important role of key stakeholders in ensuring that the public made informed financial decisions while protecting their rights.
She said the government was trying to educate Ghanaians on financial matters leading to the development of its five-year National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy (NFIDS) in 2018.
Ms Arko-Boham added that the government through MoF organised a financial education campaign last year in all 16 regions reaching about 7.6 million Ghanaians, including “Informal sector workers and vulnerable groups, security agencies, students, youth groups, as well as some professional groups through the media, social media and town hall engagement as well as airing of campaign materials on the airwaves”.
She noted that the government had been working to strengthen the financial sector, promote inclusive growth and protect consumers.
These efforts, according to her, enabled the “government to achieve 95 per cent financial inclusion which exceeds the 85 per cent financial inclusion target for Ghana.”
A representative from the Financial Stability Department of BoG said the institution was committed to ensuring financial literacy and safety of customers of financial institutions to help foster the confidence of the public in the banking sector.
He added that BoG had implemented several financial literacy initiatives to educate the public on issues relating to the banking sector, including establishing a “Financial Literacy Unit within the Financial Stability Department to champion this initiative”.
He commended GIZ and the partner institutions for the financial literacy campaign launched as it would complement the government and BoG’s effort to ensure an inclusive financial system.
