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Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta says the investigation has revealed that Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by $ 300 billion a year by 2025 if African countries adopt digital technology.
He said that African countries need to accelerate policies and programs to harness technology for economic growth.
“If we digitize as a continent, we can see growth of 10 percent of our GDP due to technology.
“South Africa cut costs by 22 percent and revenue in Rwanda increased by 6 percent due to digital technology,” he said.
Mr. Ofori-Atta made these remarks when speaking at the launch of an Integrated ICT System for the Microfinance and Small Loan Center (MASLOC) at the Jubilee House in Accra.
The IT system is an innovative solution to address the payment and settlement challenges facing MASLOC to improve transparency and accountability in loan disbursement and recovery.
Ofori-Atta praised Vice President Bawumia for defending the government’s digitization agenda, saying it is the way to go to formalize and transform the Ghanaian economy.
However, the Minister admitted that the country has not yet reached digital maturity and stressed the need to continue looking for digital infrastructure to fulfill that agenda.
Commenting on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Ghanaian economy, the Minister of Finance admitted that it was practically impossible for the government to sustain the economy after the imposition of a partial blockade on Accra, Tema, Kasoa and the Greater Kumasi.
He explained that it was largely due to the fact that the majority of the country’s population worked in the informal sector, therefore, after three weeks of closure, the government did not have many options to lift the restriction on movements.
“When you look at what happened during the confinement. It was quite clear after a point that since 90 percent of our population is informal and they go out every day to earn wages, it became increasingly impossible to continue with that policy, ”he added.
