Only 37% of businesses in Ghana currently accept or use digital payments, with the agricultural sector recording the lowest level of adoption.

This is according to a new report on the Adoption of Digital Financial Services by Business Firms in Ghana, jointly released by Retail Finance Distribution (ReFinD) and the Institute for Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) with support from the Ghana Statistical Service.

The report notes that digital payments adoption and usage is highly uneven, concentrated in Greater Accra and regional capitals. It further adds that female managers significantly boost revenue and merchant account adoption and usage.

Key barriers to adoption and usage include knowledge gaps, fraud concerns, and perceived uncertain returns.

Significant digital payments adoption and usage gaps exist across firm sizes, sectors, formality, and location. To address these gaps, the report recommends that policymakers might implement targeted interventions.

These include enhancing firms’ understanding of adoption and usage benefits, strengthening fraud prevention, and creating incentive structures for business-specific digital payment systems. Enhanced cyber security is crucial for building trust.

Commenting on the report, the Director of ISSER Prof. Peter Quartey noted that: “There are a number of reasons why adoption is low. One, is the uncertainty in the business environment and there is also the cost element and taxation and few other constraints but overall leveraging the digital financial inclusion is one of the surest way of including the unbanked in financial services,”

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the Director of Fintech and Innovation, Kwame Oppong, emphasized that the findings will play a critical role in shaping policies aimed at deepening financial inclusion.

“Despite the progress made in financial inclusion challenges still persist. Evidence by the widening gender gap and the digital inclusion and so the report produced under this initiative is timely.

“I have no doubt that the findings from this research will inform policy and make our approaches to financial inclusion more effective,” he said.