The quest of driving financial literacy in Ghana has motivated Ecobank Ghana to partner with the Bank of Ghana to train members of Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) for the past years.
The bank has been a proud sponsor of the annual JBA’s economic and financial training workshop across the country for five consecutive years.
Ecobank Ghana which is a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), a pan-African banking giant sees as its commitment to contribute to the enhancement of media coverage and commentary on financial and economic issues affecting the country.
In a speech read for the Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Daniel Sackey by the Head of Corporate Communications of the bank, Mrs. Rita Nana Aba Tsegah at the opening of two-day workshop in Accra for members of JBA, encouraged them to continue to champion financial inclusion and financial literacy in the country.
“It is key for empowering the deprived and the vulnerable sectors and person in Ghana. It is also a key developmental issue on the agenda for government”, Mr Sackey emphasized.
Positive impacts
Mr Sackey noted: “I’m particularly delighted to know from your executives the positive impacts made by these workshops”.
I am informed that business journalists today are taking the concept of specialization seriously exhibiting knowledge of the basic concepts of reporting financial matters which has contributed to an enhance economic and financial reporting”.
Circumspect
It is a welcoming news that journalists are now circumspect in their line of reporting, especially in the banking sector owing to the importance of the financial sector to national growth and development, according to Mr. Sackey.
“All of these have come about as a result of the important topics normally discussed at these annual workshops. As you may recall, the core theme for the 2017 workshop was “Contribution of SMEs in driving Ghana’s developmental agenda.”
What Dr Maxwell Opoku Afari
Opening the workshop, the First Deputy Governor of BoG, Dr. Maxwell Opoku Afari impressed upon the journalists to use financial journalism as a tool to advance the objectives of sound fiscal policies, efficient transmission of monetary policies, address bottlenecks hindering financial intermediation in the banking sector, among others.
It can also be used to promote structural reforms to ensure a smooth functioning of the economy, and above all support the process of economic growth and poverty reduction, he added.
The extension of journalism to issues of famine and poverty eradication, demonstrates the extent to which journalism and press freedom can be exploited for the benefit of society.
JBA commends Ecobank, BoG
The President of the JBA), Suleiman Mustapha commended the Bank of Ghana and Ecobank Ghana for their unflinching support in building the capacity of members for the past five years.
He admonished: “It is important for us as Journalists to understand the issues at stake. If we don’t, we will be committing a huge havoc on the society. As conveyers of information, it is necessary to always update our skills to get the knowledge in the financial sector in order to report accurately, devoid of misreporting”.
The General Secretary of Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Kofi Yeboah who endorsed the workshops of JBA said financial and economic journalism is a technical area and urged JBA, Ecobank and BoG to extend the training to deprived regions of the country.
Source: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report