The research employed GLSS (6) data to examine the determinants of financial inclusion in Ghana. The Probit model was utilized as a suitable econometric model for foretelling the financial inclusion in Ghana. The study concentrated on two main objectives. The first objective examined the determinants of financial inclusion in Ghana and the second objective aimed at examining the financial inclusion on economic growth. By using the probit model, the study showed that independent variables like age, marital status, educational level, religious affiliation and hours worked significantly impel the chances of having a bank account in Ghana. The research also has shown that the probability of possessing a bank account is greater among males than their female counterparts. Also, the results discovered that age raises the likelihood of owning an account with a bank up to a particular age limit and then begins to decline again. Singles and persons with tertiary education are more likely to have an account than those who are married and those who have not obtained tertiary education respectively. Moreover, the study further showed that an extra increase in the number of hours people work does also increases the chances of that person having an account with a financial institution in Ghana.

The second objective of the research examines financial inclusion on economic growth. The economic growth was proxy to be Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The result revealed that aggregate demand deposit & saving and time deposit saw an upward trend from the year 2015 to 2018 as well as the bank credits available by the commercial banks which intend to boost the economic growth in the long run as businessmen and investors borrow to invest and expand businesses. Moreover, the monetary rate has been witnessing a downward trend from the year 2015 to 2019. The results further discovered that the usage of mobile money and mobile money agents has been increasing over the years as well as the total value of transactions of mobile money in Ghana.

5.3 Conclusions

Financial inclusion refers to the procedure by which the vulnerable individuals especially low-income segments and all units of the society have easy access to suitable financial products and services at a reasonable cost in an unbiased and apparent manner by structured mainstream organized players (Chakrabarty, 2010). The research employed GLSS (6) data to examine the determinants of financial inclusion in Ghana. The Probit model was utilized as a suitable econometric model for foretelling the financial inclusion in Ghana. By using the probit model, the study showed that independent variables like age, marital status, educational level, religious affiliation and hours worked significantly impel the chances of having a bank account in Ghana. The financial growth was proxy to be Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The result revealed that aggregate demand deposit & saving, and time deposit, bank credit, and mobile money usage witnessed an upward trend over years whiles the monetary rate has been experiencing a downward trend.

5.4 Policy Recommendations

Based on the results of the study, the researcher forwards the following recommendations to the concerned agencies and authorities. Parallel with the first objective, the study has shown that males own an account more than their female counterparts. A policy should be designed to encourage more women to get involved in the banking system by creating flexible and enticing financial products and services that will suit their needs. The results further revealed individuals with education own more accounts than those without education. This depicts that education has a positive impact on financial inclusion in Ghana, thus, the government should adopt fundamental measures that will enlighten the individuals on the need to be financially included by owning an account with a bank. Also, overtime benefits at various private and government institutions should be established to induce employees to work for more hours to earn more income and save more.

Concerning the second objective, the result revealed that bank credit available by the commercial bank has shown an upward trend, thus, the government should design a policy that will incite more competition among commercial banks in Ghana to get more customers to give out loans and open an account with them. Also, the usage of active mobile money account saw a fall in the year 2019; this could be attributed to the rise in the fraudulent activities which discouraged people from using the mobile money service. Thus, strict technological measures should be put in place to safeguard the individual’s coffers. With these measures, more people will patronize the service without any skeptical behavior towards money mobile usage.

Required:

a. Rephrase the text to improve grammar, coherence and clarity while ensuring originality.