PurposeThe world's economies are on their knees following the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic over the past 8 months. Growing number of researches has been conducted on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on developed countries with little attention on developing countries, who are still grappling with the negative impact of the coronavirus. The rationale for this study is to assess the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on Ghana's economy and government response to the pandemic as well as policy options to revive the ailing economy.Design/methodology/approachThis study explored the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus on Ghana's economy using a discourse analysis with data from various secondary sources to analyze the impact of the pandemic from the Ghanaian perspective.FindingsThe findings from the discourse analysis revealed that the coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted on the socio-economic situation of the citizens of Ghana. Whiles an estimated 42,000 people lost their jobs in the first two months of the pandemic in Ghana, tourist attraction sector of the country alone lost $171 million dollars in the past three months due to the partial lockdown and closure of tourism and hospitality centers in the country. The study revealed that Ghana's healthcare system has been overwhelmed by the number of increasing cases in the country to extent of making use of temporary structures as isolation and treatment centers of the pandemic. The study revealed that Ghana may convert these challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic into prospects and opportunities by investing massively in the health sector and creating support for the SMEs which creates massive employment for many Ghanaians.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 on Ghana's economy and how the pandemic has negatively affected the country. The study is an exploratory study that makes use of secondary data. However, conducting a study with primary data sources from specific communities or regions in the country may not produce the same results. The results from the primary level or community level may be different from the general results obtained from the study. In future it is expected that the study focuses specifically on the extent of the coronavirus pandemic on Ghana's fiscal deficit which seems to have ballooned in recent times.Originality/valueThe study is the first of its kind to extensively explore the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Ghanaian economy. The novelty of this paper is that it recognizes governments response to the pandemic and proposes three practical measures adopted to put the country's economy back on its feet through survive, revive and ensuring growth in all sectors of the economy.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the ancient susu savings operation in Ghana and the behavioural intention or willingness of susu collectors and users to adopt a mobile money (MM) platform as part of their savings practices. More specifically, this study investigates factors that determine one’s intention to adopt the MM space as a savings channel, particularly in place of more traditional ways of saving among many people in West Africa. Design/methodology/approach – Using field survey data from market traders and susu collectors in several local markets in Ghana, and applying Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and Technological Adoption Model (TAM) conceptual frameworks, this study has produced some interesting findings. A logistic regression model was used for the empirical analysis. Findings – Generally, among the susu collectors, the author found perceived risk, education level, relative advantage and the age of the collector to be statistically significant in influencing the behavioural intention of MM adoption. With respect to susu users, the author found such factors as trialability, observability or awareness, compatibility or education attainment. The study also finds the influence of the physical presence of the susu collector to be statistically significant in influencing one’s behavioural intention to accept MM. This was found to be the primary reason motivating susu users to honour their savings commitment. Practical implications – These findings have important implications for MM uptake and the modernization of the susu operations in Ghana. While MM uptake remains significantly low, these findings suggest that the way to increase uptake is to create more awareness, embark on financial literacy programmes, and reduce mistrust and perception of risk of the MM platform. There is also the need for a regulator as the MM operators and their activities are not regulated by rules such as the reserve requirement of banks, as in the case of commercial banks that guarantees the safety of the savings of clients. Originality/value – Literature on MM is growing in recent times. However, evidence on adoption as a saving channel to replace the traditional saving system is scanty, particularly within the African context.
This study empirically investigates whether the level of human development drives greater financial inclusion, and vice versa in the contexts of frontier markets. The dynamic panel generalized methods of moments (System‐GMM) methodology is employed to analyze data spanning from 2005 to 2014 for twenty (20) frontier markets by Standard and Poor's Indices. The study finds that human development is a catalyst for financial inclusion scale‐up in the banking industry, which in turn, augments the development process. It establishes fresh evidence that income level, financial literacy, and healthy lives are the decisive factors for financial inclusion scale‐up in the banking industry. It finds new evidence that the underlying cause of low financial inclusion is low human development. The study concludes that low human development causes low financial inclusion. Also, promoting financial inclusion through the banking sector is very instrumental to stimulating human development, thus the reverse applies in frontier markets. The study implies that low living standards, poor health, high illiteracy, and deprived well‐being and freedom largely account for low financial inclusion hence its spillover effect of having low human development in frontier market countries.
We use methods developed by the Commitment to Equity Institute to assess the effects of government taxation, social spending and indirect subsidies on poverty and inequality in Ghana. We also simulate several policy reforms to assess their distributional consequences. Results show that, although the country has some very progressive taxes and well-targeted expenditures, the extent of fiscal redistribution is small, but about what one would expect given Ghana's income level and relatively low initial inequality. Results for poverty reduction are less encouraging: were it not for the in-kind benefits from health and education spending, the overall effect of government spending and taxation would actually increase poverty in Ghana. Eliminating energy subsidies and at the same time reallocating part of the savings to well-targeted transfer programs could lower the fiscal deficit while reducing inequality and protecting the poor.
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