Ghanaian press focuses on report of financial challenges of workers, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report of a recent study by Old Mutual that shed light on the financial challenges faced by working Ghanaians, with 64% experiencing financial stress is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that a recent study by Old Mutual has shed light on the financial challenges faced by working Ghanaians, with 64% experiencing financial stress.
The report highlights disparities, indicating higher stress levels among lower-income earners (below GH₵3,000 per month) and those in the informal sector. Additionally, 55% of respondents reported earning less than pre-2022 or pre-recession levels.
The study reveals that personal savings are a primary recourse for covering expenses, with 61% tapping into their savings. While 54% rely on personal savings as a source of income, only 10% have taken out a loan from a financial services provider. Instead, 24% borrowed from friends or family, and 12% sought funds from ‘Susu’. A notable 21% reported having a credit card.
Various savings channels are employed, ranging from formal to informal, with banks, mobile money, Susu, and unbanked cash among the top choices. Concerns about relevance, affordability (charges), and trust hinder greater adoption of formal savings vehicles.
Top savings priorities include income security, cost-cutting, and secure investments. Emergency savings, particularly relevant for the 40% worried about job loss, rank high. Other key savings goals encompass children’s education, medical expenses, business funding, and family’s future.
The study indicates that 44% rely on a single source of income, while 24% engage in multiple income streams as PolyJobbers, especially common among those earning GH₵3,000 or more.
Despite the importance of retirement planning, less than a quarter prioritize it as a savings goal. Only 37% have started saving for retirement, and confidence in retirement provision is low at 5.8 out of 10.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has said that Commonwealth countries need to create over 50, 000 decent jobs each day until 2030 to provide opportunities for young people entering the labour market,
She said, for instance, it was estimated that together, Commonwealth countries needed to create three in every five jobs in the world as the labour force in countries such as Japan, China and Europe shrank.
“Within the Commonwealth itself, labour mobility does not correspond to the labour rigidities of our economies, denying markets the skills and resources needed to create goods and services needed to power greater inclusive growth and wealth creation. And we have failed to draw the link between young technology workers, the ubiquity of services they provide and anxiety over physical migration,” she said.
Ms Botchwey, who has been nominated for the position of Secretary General of the Commonwealth by President Nana Akufo-Addo, said that at the Council on Foreign Relations Ghana Fifth Anniversary Lecture Series last Friday in Accra.
Ms Botchwey said the Commonwealth provided an opportunity for its Member States and people to reshape “a world fit for the times we live in”.
The Commonwealth has “a population of 2.5 billion. 60% of this population is aged 30 or younger. By geographic size, global reach and diversity, potential wealth, numbers, demographic data, and political profile, the Commonwealth should become the second most consequential organisation of States globally, after the United Nations.
“Its Charter provides a strong framework for promoting peace and prosperity, as well as modalities for cooperation among our member states, fostering friendship, fraternal dialogue and mutual respect,” she emphasised.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Organised Labour of the Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC) says it will embark on a demonstration across the country on February 13, to demand the total withdrawal of the Valued Added Tax imposed on residential consumers of electricity by the government.
But, the Ministry of Finance has issued an appeal to organised labour and key stakeholders to exercise restraint and engage in constructive dialogue concerning the contentious Value Added Tax (VAT) on electricity for residential customers
The Union gave a one-week ultimatum to the government to terminate the tax imposition on electricity which elapsed on Wednesday. However, the government has not issued any official communication of withdrawal of the VAT on electricity.
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, the Secretary General of TUC, speaking at a press conference in Accra, said the union would embark on a massive demonstration across the 16 regions of the country on Tuesday, February 13.
He said the union had tak­en the decision firmly and had appointed a committee to plan it, adding that the only reason to prevent the demonstration would be government’s decision to terminate the intended tax on consumption of electricity.
He said “we are not in any position to have any discussion or anything” adding “if government doesn’t want us to demonstrate they should withdraw.”
Dr Baah said the government should write to the union officially to stop the union from the protest.
He said if the government did not withdraw, all formal and informal workers, public and private would on Tuesday, February 13 embark on a demonstration.
“We are going to demonstrate for government to know that we can never be taken for granted,” he added.
The newspaper says that the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, has called on the investor community to partner the government in order to establish a large scale mining operation in Dollar Power in the Bole District of the Savannah Region.
He said available geological data showed that the Dollar Power enclave is highly mineralised with huge deposits of gold that made it viable for the establishment of large scale mining operations.
Dollar Power, formerly known as Sindi Community, is a community along the Ghana – Ivory Coast International Boundary Line in the Savannah Region, and lies about 20km from the District Capital, Bole.
Inhabitants of this area were raided by slave traders sometime in 1897, leaving the place uninhabited. However, in 1928, the colonial Governments of the then Gold Coast and Ivory Coast, established an International Boundary Line between the two countries, with the erection of Boundary Pillars at mutually agreed positions. This Boundary Line was reaffirmed by the two countries in 1973 with the planting of teak trees along the border.
The large deposits of gold in the area, however, attracted people from across both countries whose activities has led to the destruction of Boundary Pillars and the teak trees. In 2005, a small group of Ghanaians begun moving to the area to take advantage of the gold deposits and also prevent Ivorians from exploiting the mineral resources. Currently, there are about three thousand (3,000) inhabitants in the area, mainly involved in small scale mining. The gold deposits in the area have made the people to name parts of the community Dollar Power Obuasi.
Since 2021, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, through the Ghana Boundary Commission, had been working with their counterparts in Ivory Coast to reaffirm the Boundary Lines. The Ministry has also been working with the chiefs and people of the area to regularise their small scale mining activities.
GIK/APA