By Edward Nyarko
We have seen technology in action at all levels in Ghana including payment systems, transportation and agriculture among others with scalable results that are transforming lives for the better, says Minister for Communication and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful.
Sharing the Ghanaian experience at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings underway in Marrakech, Morocco with focus on building Foundations for an Inclusive Digital Future, she said for Africa to bridge the technology gap, Africa needs to invest about 170 billion dollars annually by 2025 with regards to physical infrastructure.
Being able to learn, work and transact digitally and online has never been more important to the daily lives of people around the globe. Even though basic digital access is the foundation for addressing many of the world’s most pressing challenges, nearly 3 billion people were still offline in 2022, 1.4 billion people remain unbanked, and 850 million people have no official identification.
The vast majority of these excluded people live in developing countries especially Africa with the fastest growing and youthful population than any region in the world.
Accelerating digitalization requires more investment, innovation, and partnerships from both the public and private sectors. Boosting broadband connectivity, digital public infrastructure and digital skills will ensure that future generations can fully participate in the global economy. That was what the World Bank event on building Foundations for an Inclusive Digital Future in Marrakech, Morocco sought to do.
The panelists, which includes Ghana’s Minister for Communication and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful discussed the essential foundations for expanding digital economies and how to catalyze actions and investments for an inclusive digital future.
She emphasized the need to support Africa to invest in projects that will onboard more women in the agricultural value to use technology to improve the lot of their communities.
The International Development Association, the World Bank wing has earmarked 93 billion dollars to support digitalisation in developing economies but 70 billion dollars out of these funds would be invested in Africa.
