Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has called on Ghana to use its economic recovery to advance a national strategy focused on improving people’s financial health.
Speaking after a meeting with President John Dramani Mahama, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA) said the country’s next National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy should set clear objectives and include regular surveys to measure progress.
The discussions examined how tailored financial services could support informal workers, women and smallholder farmers. Key issues included digital innovation, data-sharing between financial service providers, and expanding access to long-term savings and pensions.
Most workers in Ghana’s informal sector do not currently have a pension. The meeting also considered simpler systems for resolving customer complaints, stronger protection from fraud and scams, and financial products that enable people to save and insure themselves against unexpected setbacks.
Queen Maxima said financial health should help households pay for everyday needs, withstand economic shocks, invest for the future and feel more secure about their finances.
“What is the whole purpose of financial services? It is to improve people’s livelihoods. You have also done the huge work on bringing price stability. And of course, with fiscal stability, banks will be confident and invest in the real economy with flexible terms. So, the issue is how do we intentionally look into financial health,” she explained.
The Queen drew on her work on financial health in the Netherlands and a discussion with employees at HPW’s dried-fruit processing facility in Adeiso to stress the role businesses can play in supporting their staff.
She said financial difficulties could affect employees’ health, concentration and performance at work, making workplace support an important part of a wider financial-health agenda.
President Mahama highlighted plans to improve women’s access to finance through the creation of a Women’s Development Bank. The institution would provide capital and guarantee mechanisms aimed at helping women expand their businesses and increase their incomes.
He also outlined measures to make mortgage finance more affordable and broaden access to financial services. Under the plans, every Ghanaian recorded in the National Identification database would have a wallet on their card.
The government also wants to improve access to the digital grid by upgrading rural telephony to 4G, allowing people in those areas to connect at a reasonable cost.
According to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025, 81% of adults in Ghana had a financial account in 2024, compared with 29% in 2011.
However, around one in three adults said they had bought groceries on credit or paid for them later during the preceding year. The meeting therefore focused on how broader access to reliable financial services could help households manage such pressures and build emergency savings.
