Ghana and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), paving the way for a $200 million facility aimed at supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
This is part of government’s commitment to fund SME operations at reduced interest rates to ensure their continued sustainability.
“In furtherance of our objective of providing financial access to SMEs, the Minister for Finance and president of EBID signed last Friday in Togo, a MOU for 200 million dollar facility to be disbursed through the Ghana Commercial Bank and the Ghana EXIM Bank to SMEs”, President Akufo-Addo said at the opening of the 3i Africa Summit in Accra.
The MoU according to the President was signed by the Finance Minister on behalf of Ghana last Friday, May 10, 2024.
At the inaugural summit, African governments were also challenged to recognize the potential of fintech in driving economic development by working to eliminate policy barriers hampering the full harnessing.
The continent can leapfrog and surmount its challenges by investing in the space to compete globally with developed countries.
“Governments across Africa should invest heavily in the digital infrastructure that will fill the form of the backbone of our shared prosperity. We must create policies and foster innovation, encourage entrepreneurship and attract investment from both within and beyond our borders.”
“These are testament to the potential that lies within our grasp a promising brighter future for all Africans. But to realise fully these benefits we must harness the transformative power of fintech and digital innovation. We must embrace the technologies that reshape the global economy and make them work for us, tailoring them to the unique needs and challenges of our diverse and dynamic continent.”
The 3i Africa Summit stands as a ground-breaking global gathering – uniting leaders from government, business, investors, and academia in a collective effort to deliberate and collaborate on unleashing the continent’s digital economic potential empowered by Fintech.
The Summit is being hosted by Ghana and is an initiative by the Bank of Ghana, Development Bank Ghana, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore to deliberate on ideas in creating a sound and safe financial system.
It is themed “Unleashing Africa’s FinTech and Digital Economic Potential and will bring together thousands of sector players to adopt pragmatic ways of harnessing digital resources to bolster the financial and economic landscape on the continent.
The 3i Africa Summit is setting the tone for innovation, investment and impact in Africa.
