FLF AFRICA LAUNCHES FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR CORONAVIRUS ALLEVIATION(FLICA)
Members of our eminent Advisory Board, Country Representatives, friends in the Media, you are warmly welcome to the Press Launch of Financial Literacy for Coronavirus Alleviation (FLICA). With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus on the 31st of December 2019 in China, it has fast become a global pandemic. Globally, there are currently 12,164,119 confirmed cases and 552, 023 deaths as of July 09, 2020.
The UN asserts that nearly 30 million more people could fall into poverty. The IMF estimates the economic impact of the virus will be a global recession like the levels seen in the financial crises of 2008(a 2.5% contraction) and at best a no growth in 2020. For Sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is even worse as nearly 10(ten) years of economic progress is said to have been wiped out by the Pandemic. Real Per capita GDP is now projected to contract by 5.4% in 2020(a double of what was projected in April 2020)
According to OECD, the COVID-19 shock to African economies is coming in three waves: (i) lower trade and investment from China in the immediate term; (ii) a demand slump associated with the lockdowns in the European Union and OECD countries; and (iii) a continental supply shock affecting domestic and intra-African trade. It is shaking commodity-driven growth models that had largely failed to create more and better jobs or improve well-being. In the short-term, the recommendation is that fiscal and monetary measures should channel liquidity to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, households and informal workers, especially in the most vulnerable economies.
The pandemic thus poses significant risks not only for people’s health but also for their economic wellbeing. Already low-income earners, especially informal workers, who earn a living on a day-to-day basis and have limited or no access to social safety nets, are severely hit and suffering disproportionately from the adverse effects.
At FLF Africa, we believe lack of financial literacy will lead to poor financial choices and decisions, which could result in undesired financial and economic consequences for the entire economy of Africa. Financial literacy will assist the ordinary African worker to process economic information and make informed decisions about their finances in order to cope with the growing hardship in these covid19 moments. Unfortunately, majority of Countries on the continent lack strategic, coordinated and intentionally driven approach to financial literacy.
Against this backdrop, FLF Africa is launching this project – the Financial Literacy for Coronavirus Alleviation (FLICA) – today across the continent. FLICA will provide financial literacy to the formal and informal sectors on how to handle the economic and financial hardship arising from the covid-19 pandemic for financial wellness.
As part of our strategic goal to reduce extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa; FLICA will help achieve four critical objectives;
This continental project is geared towards all the 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and aims to achieve financial independence for 8 out of every 10 individuals by 2030. As a deliberate strategy, our Informal Sector reach will cover the mass rural (farmers, fisherfolk, deprived communities) and mass urban (market women, street hawkers, traders, retail sellers, etc.). The Formal sector will also reach workers in the private, public, social sectors (mass, middle class, and high net worth), pensioners, entrepreneurs, students across primary, secondary, tertiary, vocational and technical levels.
Our “IES” approach will Inform, Engage and Support people through practical and impartial education to build their financial awareness and encourage informed money decisions for their financial well-being especially in these hard-economic times of Covid-19.
This strategic approach will address attitudinal and behavioral barriers to our goal of financial wellness through public education (audio, visual, online and on-air channels with resource materials) in both official and local country languages. It will also engage governments in addressing structural barriers to achieving long-term, continental improvements in institutionalizing financial literacy.
In addition, FLICA will employ consistent, strategic and collaborative partnerships with institutional stakeholders such as donor agencies, ministries of finance and economic planning, regulatory bodies, community service, education service, health service, security service, academia, industry and professional bodies in achieving our financial wellness for all objective.
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(For Immediate Media Release)
THE BEST OPPORTUNITY TO FORMALIZE GHANA’S INFORMAL SECTOR IS HERE – LET’S NOT WASTE THESE RARE “COVID-19” MOMENTS
For more than 50 years, Ghana has depended on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in both the formal and informal sectors for economic survival. Unfortunately, Government (since independence) cannot boast of any reliable and accurate data on this marginalised sector that contributes about 70% to Ghana’s GDP and account for about 92% of business in the Country (ISSER, 2015).
FLF Africa is pleased to know that the National Board for Small Scale Industries (established by an Act of Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana and operationalised in 1985) has the mandate and vision of creating a vibrant entrepreneurial economy by fostering the growth and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
As a not-for-profit organization with the vision of seeing an Africa where extreme poverty is greatly diminished with 8 out of every 10 Africans becoming financially independent by 2030; we will like to submit that the government of Ghana supervises the NBSSI as a matter of urgency to leverage on this window of Covid-19 global economic melt down to aggressively wipe out the 63 year old narrative of no-data on the informal sector’s micro,small and medium enterprises, and deliberately vote funds to navigate our local governance structure to the last informal sector MSME worker (just the same way we reach out to every Ghanaian voter for votes) and get this done now and for all.
We urge the Government of Ghana through the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to use the same importance it puts on finding funding for all expedient developmental needs, even in a time of a global economic distress, to do same for the formalization of the informal sector. As a matter of priority, Government must make funding available to the NBSSI to go through every district in all the 16 regions of Ghana through their over 100 business advisory centres (working with all Trader Groups/Associations, Telcos, Media houses, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade, NABCO, MMDAs, GRA and the Ministry of Local Government) to get data on all informal sector MSMEs for proper economic planning and business development to aid the Informal Sector take its rightful place for Ghana to become a “Country Beyond Aid” indeed. It will also change our GDP composition construct, strengthen our economic transformation agenda and make Ghana a first world economy across the Sub-Saharan Region.
If this urgent call to action is heeded to, Ghana’s Informal Sector Pension will change from the current abysmal level of about 1% coverage to the same levels of the formal sector’s tiers 1&2. Same change will be true of Micro Insurance, Micro Credit, and Health Insurance. Ultimately, real government social intervention programmes like the CAP BuSS, Free SHS et al will be rightly targetted and our Country fiscal stance will spare us the usual recurring deficits occasioned by revenue shortfalls.
Ghana cannot fail to take advantage of this golden opportunity in these challenging Covid-19 moments. The digitalization agenda of the Government of Ghana in transforming the economy through Informal Sector formalization with the National Digital Address System, Mobile Interoperability, QR Code, National Identity Card et al will be meaningless without a commitment to this request.
As we celebrate our Republic Day today, Ghana cannot claim real independence, if the biggest contributors to our GDP are not financially independent. It is time for an intentionally driven, thinking intensive and action oriented decision to overcome widespread poverty NOW. If we fail to do same today, it will take another global pandemic “tomorrow” to expose our indecision and economic structural quaqmire.
FLF Africa is committed to helping Ghana and the rest of the continent in this economic liberation call. Let Ghana begin and show continental leadership in getting 100% data on the informal sector for real economic transformation.
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Office of the President, Jubilee House
Office of the Vice-President, Jubilee House
Office of Fmr. President Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings
Office of Fmr. President John Agyekum Kufuor
Office of Fmr. President Mahama / Flag Bearer, NDC
Office of the Senior Minister, Ghana Beyond Aid Committee
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
Ministry of Trade and Industry
Ministry of Local Government
National Board for Small Scale Industries
Media Contact:
Prosper Ayayee
Press Secretary
+233 246 748 481