Fintech industry players in Ghana have observed this year’s International Day of Family Remittance with a forum to discuss how to use fintech to drive the country’s economic growth, post-COVID.
The day is set aside to recognise the contribution of over 200 million migrant workers to improve the lives of their 800 million family members back home, and to create a future of hope for their children.
Held on the theme: “Recovery and Resilience Through Digital and Financial Inclusion”, the forum was attended by government officials including the Minister of Communication and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful and the Western Regional Minister, Darko Mensah, Representatives from United Nation and local fintech companies.
Panel discussion sessions hosted by CEO of Zeepay, Andrew Takyi-Appiah, Clara Arthur, a Digital Financial Service Sector specialist with CGAP and Leticia Brown, a Sustainable Development Goals Specialist which centered on Intra-African Migration, Saving and Micro Insurance and Digital Disruption Post Covid-19 shared insight into how $420 Billion worth of remittances were received into Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 alone, outstripping foreign direct investments and overseas development aid combined to the region.
Stalemate, Communications and Digitalization Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in a speech read on her behalf expressed the government commitment in ensuring a robust digital ecosystem that is geared towards financial inclusion in the country.
According to her, the remittances into Ghana in 2020 presented about 6% of GDP, making remittance the largest unsolicited foreign direct investment in Ghana and a major source of revenue for the government.
The International Day of Family Remittances was launched in 2015 to raise awareness of the contribution that migrant workers make to the economies of their home countries.
During 2020, despite the challenges caused by COVID-19, the total volume of remittances sent home by migrant workers fell by just 1.6%, a testament to their resilience and hard work.
This result was in contrast to a World Bank forecast in April 2020 that global remittances would decline by 20% in 2020.
