'One sure way of delivering on credit to MSMEs is via digitalization' - Dr Opoku-Afari

To address the challenges associated with access to credit by businesses, especially, Medium and Small scale Enterprises (MSMEs), the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari, has said digitalization of the process including disbursement of funds is the way to go.

He said there is currently a collaboration with the Development Bank Ghana (DBG) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to explore the use of Universal Trusted Credentials (UTC) to pay and facilitate credit delivery to MSMEs.

Speaking at the launch and signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on MSMEs projects at the Bank of Ghana, the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said the project is to explore which fintech innovations work and how they can be scaled up to ensure the growth of MSMEs.

“One sure way of delivering on credit to MSMEs is via digitalization. Exploring the powerful reach and potential of digitalization to address all the myriad of challenges that have undermined access to credit by MSMEs—especially the lack of collateral. Some work is already being done on this, and again in collaboration with DBG and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to explore the use of Universal Trusted Credentials (UTC) to establish willingness to pay and facilitate credit delivery to MSMEs. So far, the results from the sandbox is extremely encouraging," Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari stated.

He added that, “It is for this reason that I am extremely excited that one of the key objectives of this project is to explore which fintech innovations work and how they can be scaled up to ensure the growth of MSMEs."

The First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana stated that the study will provide the central bank and its collaborating partners with a reliable document which will help encourage innovation with the MSMEs sector.

This, he said, will also lead to job creation and spur economic growth.

SA/NOQ

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