As Ghana's digital economy expands at unprecedented speed, the Digital Economy Forum has been launched as a new long-term national platform to examine the technologies, policies and ideas that will define the country's economic future.

The initiative will bring together policymakers, regulators, business leaders, financial institutions, technology companies, academics, innovators and consumers to address the most pressing issues emerging from Ghana’s digital transformation.

The Forum will focus on how technology is changing commerce, financial services, public administration, entrepreneurship and everyday life, while examining the opportunities and risks these changes present.

Each edition will combine an investigative documentary with a high-level televised dialogue, bringing evidence, expert analysis and public discussion together to inform policy, business strategy and national development.

The Forum aims to become Ghana’s leading platform for serious, evidence-based conversations on the future of the digital economy.

A platform for the defining questions of the digital age

Artificial intelligence.

Digital payments.

Cybersecurity.

Data governance.

Digital trust.

Financial inclusion.

The future of work.

Digital commerce.

These are no longer niche technology issues. They have become economic issues, business issues and national development priorities.

As digital technologies increasingly shape how Ghanaians transact, communicate, learn, build businesses and access public services, the Digital Economy Forum seeks to move the national conversation beyond product launches and industry announcements toward deeper discussions about the structural forces reshaping the economy.

Each edition will focus on a major issue confronting Ghana's digital future, using original documentary storytelling and expert dialogue to unpack complex issues in a way that is accessible, practical and relevant to businesses, policymakers and the wider public.

Opening with Ghana's growing trust challenge

The maiden edition of the Digital Economy Forum will air on JoyNews and Joy FM on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 8 p.m. under the theme, “The Trust Crisis: Why Fraud Is Holding Back Ghana’s Digital Economy.”

The thought-leadership platform is the brainchild of Hubtel.

The opening edition addresses one of the most significant challenges confronting Ghana's rapidly expanding digital economy.

Digital payments have become central to commerce, financial inclusion and business growth. Yet fraud, account compromise, social engineering attacks, weak dispute resolution and declining consumer confidence threaten to undermine that progress.

The discussion will examine not only the scale and sophistication of digital fraud, but also what governments, regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, businesses and consumers must do to strengthen trust across Ghana's digital payments ecosystem.

High-level industry conversation

The Forum will bring together some of Ghana's leading voices in financial regulation, cybersecurity, digital payments and economic policy.

Scheduled speakers include the Head of Fintech and Innovation at the Bank of Ghana, Elhanan Owureku Asare; economist Professor Godfred Bokpin; Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Banks, John Awuah; and Executive Chairman of the e-Crime Bureau, Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako.

Other speakers include the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer of MobileMoney Fintech Limited, Godwin Tamakloe; Deputy Director-General for Technical Operations at the Cyber Security Authority, Stephen Cudjoe-Seshie; and Hubtel's Ebenezer Baffour.

Together, they will explore financial regulation, cybersecurity, payment risk, consumer protection, institutional cooperation and the economic implications of declining confidence in digital services.

The objective is to move the conversation beyond identifying the problem towards practical interventions that regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, businesses and consumers can implement to strengthen Ghana's digital economy.

A multitrillion-cedi digital economy

The scale of Ghana's digital transformation is already significant.

Bank of Ghana data show that payment service providers processed approximately 8.1 billion transactions valued at GH¢3 trillion in 2024. Transaction volumes increased by 19 per cent from the previous year, while transaction values rose by 58 per cent.

By December 2025, Ghana had reached 80.5 million registered mobile money accounts, with approximately 26.7 million active accounts. In that month alone, nearly 982 million mobile money transactions worth GH¢518.4 billion were recorded.

These figures demonstrate that digital payments are no longer peripheral to Ghana's economy. They have become essential infrastructure supporting retail, transportation, food delivery, professional services, e-commerce and the wider informal economy.

The rapid expansion is creating unprecedented opportunities for businesses to reach customers, improve efficiency and scale beyond traditional markets.

At the same time, it is increasing the value of the systems through which money, customer data and commercial activity now flow, making digital payment infrastructure an increasingly attractive target for fraudsters.

The cost of declining trust

According to the Bank of Ghana's 2024 Fraud Report, 16,733 fraud cases were recorded across banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions and payment service providers, representing a five per cent increase over the previous year.

The combined value at risk rose by 13 per cent to approximately GH¢99 million. Payment service providers alone recorded 15,673 fraud cases, with the value at risk increasing by 18 per cent to approximately GH¢19 million.

While these figures quantify reported financial exposure, the wider economic cost extends beyond direct financial losses.

A customer who loses confidence in a payment platform may return to cash. A business that repeatedly experiences fraudulent transactions may hesitate to expand digitally. A company unable to resolve payment disputes quickly risks losing customers, revenue and reputation.

Trust therefore becomes more than a consumer issue. It is an economic asset that influences investment, innovation, customer behaviour and the pace of digital adoption.

A slowdown in confidence could have wider implications for financial inclusion, business formalisation, access to credit and national productivity.

Fraud is becoming more sophisticated

The inaugural Forum will explore how digital fraud has evolved beyond technical attacks into sophisticated forms of social engineering that exploit human behaviour.

Fraudsters increasingly impersonate telecommunications companies, financial institutions, business owners and trusted contacts. They deploy cloned websites, fraudulent payment notifications, phishing links and carefully constructed narratives designed to persuade victims to disclose credentials or authorise transactions.

The interconnected nature of today's financial ecosystem makes the threat even more complex. Funds stolen from a mobile wallet can be transferred into bank accounts, moved across multiple payment platforms and cashed out or sent abroad within minutes.

Because banks, fintech companies and payment service providers operate within a highly interconnected ecosystem, weaknesses in one part of the chain can expose businesses and consumers across the system.

Fraud prevention must therefore be viewed as an enterprise-wide risk management issue requiring collaboration across regulators, financial institutions, technology companies and consumers.

The case for moving forward

Despite the risks, the long-term economic case for digital commerce remains compelling.

A cross-country study covering 70 countries found that increased use of electronic payments was associated with reductions in robbery and burglary. The study estimated that adding one point-of-sale device per 1,000 people was associated with a 2.2 to 5.6 per cent reduction in robbery.

Digital payments reduce dependence on physical cash while creating transaction histories that support financial planning, credit access, customer insights and more efficient business operations.

Ghana also continues to provide a strong regulatory foundation for digital finance, maintaining the top position in the GSMA's 2025 Mobile Money Regulatory Index, according to the Bank of Ghana.

The challenge therefore is not whether Ghana should continue digitising its economy, but how to strengthen trust without slowing innovation.

The inaugural Digital Economy Forum will examine practical ways institutions can improve fraud detection, accelerate dispute resolution, strengthen intelligence sharing and provide consumers with more effective mechanisms for reporting suspicious transactions.

It will also explore how businesses can strengthen security without introducing unnecessary friction that discourages customers from embracing digital services.

A continuing national conversation

The Digital Economy Forum has been conceived as a continuing national platform rather than a single event.

Future editions will examine the technologies and trends shaping Ghana's economic future, including artificial intelligence, digital payments, data governance, cybersecurity, digital identity, automation, the future of work and emerging technologies that will define the next generation of commerce.

By combining original documentary storytelling with nationally televised dialogue, the Forum aims to create an enduring platform for informed public discourse on Ghana's digital transformation.

For business leaders, entrepreneurs and policymakers alike, it presents digital transformation not merely as a technology agenda, but as a national economic imperative.

As billions of transactions move through Ghana's financial system and new technologies reshape every sector of the economy, Ghana's future competitiveness will depend on more than the ability to adopt innovation.

It will depend on the country's ability to build trust, strengthen institutions and ensure that technology serves inclusive and sustainable economic growth.