Are you financially included?
The Global Findex Database (GFD) 2025, released on July 16, shows that Ghana’s Financial Inclusion Index improved in 2024, moving to 80 per cent, from 68 per cent in 2021. Good news, right?
Well, the GFD report looks at connectivity and financial inclusion in the digital economy, and it is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. It explains why financial inclusion is a cornerstone of development.
“Mobile phones and the internet are revolutionising financial inclusion, enabling more people to access and use digital financial services to manage their financial lives,” the report noted.
Indeed, as noted by the report, mobile money accounts, accessible on basic phones to bank-account-linked wallets used on smartphones, digital services are promoting financial inclusion at all levels.
In Ghana, as is also the case in other sub-Saharan countries, digital payment channels have improved in-country trade and broadly the living standards across the board.
Poor farmers in rural parts of the country are able to receive payments for their goods because of their understanding of how the basic features of the low-end phone help in accessing mobile money wallets or paying and receiving money. This was not the case in the past. Because of information asymmetry, farmers, and mostly rural dwellers, did not enjoy the privilege of becoming part of the digital financial ecosystem.
The mobile phone within the digital space has improved price discovery and helped in improving the financial inclusion agenda broadly. So, how do we get the 20 per cent who are financially excluded on board the inclusion agenda? To my mind, the right financial education is the solution as it keeps you out of harm’s way. How? Yes, whether you are financially included or excluded, you need financial education.
Remember, at all times, productivity and living standards improve when consumers, that is, you and I, have the necessary tools and information to make sound financial decisions.
So what exactly is financial education? Broadly speaking, financial education refers to the development of the critical skills that improve one’s evaluation of financial options to make a sound decision. Ultimately, making sound financial decisions improves financial health.
Economic conditions, like tight financial situations, impact our day-to-day activities; therefore, we can never wish them away. As consumers, we are always faced with the situation of making financial decisions, and to make the right decision, we must be armed with the requisite skills and tools. When you make better decisions, it leads to more opportunities to build financial capacity that improve financial inclusion. I hope you have followed the drift thus far. Yes, it means that those who are financially excluded may be making the wrong financial decisions.
Your financial capacity is very critical to your well-being, that is, your overall health, because it gives you the needed peace of mind. For instance, once your financial position is strengthened, you have the financial health to secure credit, build more savings and enhance your wealth-building capabilities.
Of course, staying up-to-date on your financial education is always daunting because of the vast and ever-evolving financial services marketplace. But the benefits of staying well informed on financial matters are potentially limitless because when you understand how financial choices affect your current and future financial security, you stay out of harm’s way. When you know what a bad interest rate is, you won’t borrow from a loan shark!
There are situations where the echoes from the pocket must point you to a change in direction.
As I explained in the April 15, 2016, edition of this column, the pocket speaks to us, or gives off some echoes, just as the walls throw back the echoes of our footsteps sometimes. And what this means is that there is a sound, or sounds, caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface back to the listener, which is not the doing of the person.
Echoes from the pocket, sometimes, are an admonition to change job or change the course of your direction, just as your bank account is only a reflection of yesterday’s decisions and not the reflection of the future.
To be able to understand the wisdom from the pocket, you need to have a clear understanding, or a true meaning of money, through financial education. Financial education is a collective responsibility; therefore, the 80 per cent must help the 20 per cent come up too.
Botabil@gmail.com
