Queen Máxima of the Netherlands has urged Ghana to establish a Financial Health Council that would bring government institutions and private-sector players together to improve the financial wellbeing of ordinary Ghanaians.

The Queen, who serves as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health, made the call in Accra at the inauguration of the working committee drawing up Ghana's next financial inclusion and development strategy, which covers 2027 to 2031. She said Ghana should build on its economic recovery to accelerate a national agenda on financial health, so that families can meet everyday expenses, cope with unexpected shocks, invest for the future and feel secure in their financial lives.

Meeting with President Mahama

The call followed a meeting with President John Dramani Mahama at the Jubilee House in Accra on Thursday, 5 November. According to a statement from the Presidency, the two discussed the steps needed to deepen financial health through tailored solutions for informal workers, women and smallholder farmers. The talks also covered digital innovation, data sharing between providers, and long-term savings and pensions, especially for informal-sector workers, most of whom have no pension.

President Mahama welcomed the Queen's proposals and restated the government's commitment to widening financial inclusion and access to digital services. He told her the government was working to expand digital connectivity, including upgrading telecommunications infrastructure from 2G to 4G to improve internet access in rural communities, and was introducing a digital wallet linked to the national identification system. The accounts of the meeting gave no timeline for the network upgrade or the digital wallet, and mentioned no funding, programmes or agreements arising from the talks.

The gap between accounts and security

The visit drew attention to a wide gap in Ghana between access to financial services and actual financial security. A 2021 FinScope study found that only 22 percent of Ghanaian adults were financially healthy, while 44 percent were described as merely coping and 34 percent as financially vulnerable. Yet the World Bank's Global Findex 2025 found that 81 percent of adults in Ghana held a financial account in 2024, up from 29 percent in 2011.

Queen Máxima was in Ghana from 2 to 5 November. Her programme took her beyond Accra's boardrooms: she met women traders at Makola Market, visited a farm and a fruit-processing factory, and held talks at the Bank of Ghana, including a meeting with Governor Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama and a roundtable on financial health. She recalled that her last visit to Ghana was about 25 years ago, when she was still a princess, and singled out her conversations with market traders as a highlight of the trip.

The working committee now has the task of turning the financial health agenda into Ghana's next inclusion strategy. The Queen's message was that opening accounts was only the first step, and that the test of the strategy would be whether households, farmers and small businesses end up more secure.