BoG identifies $4.8bn annual SME financing gap, pushes digital data-driven lending

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has identified a US$4.8 billion annual financing gap facing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. Bank of Ghana's Second Deputy Governor, Matilda Asante-Asiedu, warned that while the country has made significant progress in digital payments, it has not yet translated this into equally accessible credit for businesses.

She emphasized the need to build stronger digital credit systems to allow businesses to use their transaction histories for financing. Asante-Asiedu pointed out that while businesses can receive digital payments within seconds, securing working capital can take several months. She advocated for the use of digital transaction records as credit, noting that mobile money records can reveal money movement patterns, transaction regularity, merchant activity, income trends, and business growth or decline.

She challenged the over-reliance on traditional collateral, suggesting that contracts, receivables, and transaction histories could provide lenders with verifiable evidence of future income. Ghana's digital payment ecosystem is extensive, with mobile money processing 954 million transactions valued at approximately GH¢493 billion in June 2026 alone, and about 84.6 million registered mobile money accounts, of which 26.4 million are active.

The BoG is advancing open banking and open finance frameworks to unlock financing for SMEs, with the success of open banking measured by the extent to which transaction data enables small businesses to secure affordable and accessible credit.