Kofi Ahovi

  Millions of people travel across the world each year for different reasons, but regardless of the purpose, there is always a mix of excitement and anxiety. Excitement about discovering new cultures and experiences is often paired with concerns about money. Can I pay with cash? Will my bank card work? How much will it cost? For many modern travellers, one solution has eased these concerns: the prepaid travel card. In Ghana, where the cedi’s volatility makes financial planning more complex, this is even more relevant. Losing money to exchange rate movements, hidden conversion fees or card fraud can disrupt a holiday, strain a business trip, or complicate studies abroad. Understanding how travel cards work, and how they evolved, can significantly improve financial confidence when travelling. From Forgotten Wallet to Payment Card The payment card traces its origins to 1950, when American businessman Frank McNamara forgot his wallet at a New York restaurant. Embarrassed but inspired, ...

 By Emmanuel Borketey Bortey- Enterprise Banker, Business and Commercial Banking, Stanbic Bank Ghana. There is a quiet transformation underway across Ghana’s business landscape. One that does not announce itself with fanfare but reveals itself in the hum of solar panels on factory rooftops, the reduced fuel bills of a mid-sized agribusiness, and the steady output of a hotel that no longer dreads the next power outage. Ghana’s small and medium-sized enterprises, the backbone of an economy that generates over 70 percent of employment, are beginning to chart a different course. They are moving, however gradually, toward cleaner, more sustainable energy solutions. And at the heart of that movement is the growing role of green financing. For too long, the conversation around sustainability in Ghana has been dominated by large corporations and government policy frameworks, leaving SMEs to navigate an energy reality that is both costly and unreliable. Frequent power fluctuations, an overd...

 Loan defaults in Ghana have reached levels that go beyond isolated borrower missteps to reveal systemic weaknesses throughout the financial sector. According to recent data from the Bank of Ghana, the banking industry’s Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio, the share of loans in default, has hovered persistently above 20 per cent since 2023, with figures around 23 – 24 per cent in 2025 and an absolute stock of bad loans exceeding GHS20 billion. These elevated NPL ratios mean that roughly one in four loans issued by financial institutions is currently non-performing, a stark indicator of credit stress. Such pervasive distress invites a deeper interrogation of causality beyond the traditional borrower-blame narrative. Loan defaults are commonly attributed to borrower failure, yet an objective assessment of credit risk reveals that lenders themselves can significantly contribute to the problem. Weak internal practices, poor judgment, and commercial pressures within financial institutions ...

By Kofi Ahovi Experts at the just ended African Investment Forum in Accra have called for the need for African countries to invest more in the infrastructural sector. Speaking in turns on the topic “The challenges to enhance investment and growth in Africa in the 21st century” The Rt. Hon. Paul Boateng D.L, Non Executive Director of Accepting and Embracing of Gender Identity and Sexuality (AEGIS) and Richard Gush, Chief Executive‐Corporate & Investment Banking, Standard Bank argued strongly for more investment in infrastructure on the continent. Hon Boateng noted that in efforts to develop African countries must develop new market locally and key to that was the improvement of infrastructure in the various countries, adding these has been a major failure in policy with third world countries. He called for the need to strengthen the various ports to improve revenue collections adding “the objective of Customs Excise and Preventive Services officials is to improve trade not otherwis...

The managing director of Stanbic Bank, Alhassan Andani, has said that the global financial meltdown presents an opportunity for Ghana and other African countries to diversify the pillars of their economy. He said the services industry is rife with opportunities which must be explored. Andani, speaking in an interview in Accra after the launch of Stanbic Bank’s new global advertising campaign, said the crisis presents countries such as Ghana the opportunity to enter the services sector on a greater scale, since, irrespective of how the global economy tilts, such industries are not seriously hit. He said a re-focus on the “little things” are what will ensure the positive growth of the economy. “Shipping, customs inspections, ship repairs or dry docking, telephony, health services, airline ticketing and other services are far better than just common merchandizing. These are areas where the global crunch can’t hit; they are where we should be concentrating on as a country and blend it with...