January 2024

Ghana. Academic activities to halt as SSA-UoG, FUSAG declare ‘indefinite strike action’

The Senior Staff Association-Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) and the Federation of Universities Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSAG) have declared an indefinite industrial action with immediate effect. The decision follows, among other things, the failure of the government to address the above bodies’ concerns regarding pensions and the reversal of what they describe as an illegal cancellation of their overtime allowance. Speaking at a news conference at the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra, the National Chairman of the SSA-UoG, Isaac...

Ghana. SSNIT to intensify campaign to enrol more self-employed

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is to intensify its initiative aimed at roping in more informal sector and self-employed persons in Ghana onto the state-run Tier One pension scheme. Riding on the successes of last year when it launched the Self Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED), SSNIT believes that a more aggressive approach to push the initiative will attract more people in that bracket to secure them a better future when they retire. The Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John...

November 2023

Ghana. GMA demands retirement salary for members, improved conditions of service

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is demanding that government put in place measures that will ensure all of its members continue to receive a salary even after retiring. The President of the Association, Dr. Frank Serebour tabled the demand at the 65th General Meeting of the Association on Monday, November 13. In his address, Dr. Frank Serebour said the conditions of service of doctors must also be improved. “We need to be protected from workplace hazards, we need to be given accessible...

October 2023

Ghana. Labour Ministry calls for expansion of pension to cover informal sector

The Director of Finance and Administration at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Hamidu Adakurugu, has called for the expansion of pensions to ensure all workers, especially those in the informal sector who make up over 75% of the workforce, are enrolled in a pension scheme. Speaking on behalf of the Sector Minister at the launch of National Pensions Awareness Week, he noted that currently, only 2.4 million workers, which represents a small fraction of the over 10...

Ghana. Total membership of SSNIT Scheme is 1.8 million — Minister

As of March 2023, the total membership of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Scheme was estimated at 1.8 million, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Minister of Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions, has disclosed. This, he said means that about 8.1 million of the estimated Ghana’s working population of 9.9 million might not have any form of social security cover, which shows that leveraging digitalisation to extend social security coverage was long overdue. “The overwhelming importance of digitalisation today...

9 million Ghanaian workers without pension – NPRABY

About nine mil­lion people work­ing in the country without any form of pension risk slumping into retirement without income security, the Head of the Corporate Affairs of the National Pensions Regula­tory Authority (NPRA), Nana Sifa Twum, has stated. He said that between the next five and 10 years, the working individuals without any form of pension would retire poor and become a liability on their families and society if the situation was not addressed. Nana Twum who stated this in an...

Ghana. Government settles all outstanding pensions contributions ending August 2023

The Chief Executive of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Hayford Attah Krufi, has revealed that government has cleared all outstanding Tier 1 and Tier 2 pension contributions ending August 2023. According to hin, the payment was done in September 2023, after government finalised the Domestic Debt Exchange Porogrammme. “About ¢2.3 billion payments has been released to clear all these arrears”, Mr. Krufi stressed. Background The 2022 Financial Stability Review report released by the Bank of Ghana showed that government had defaulted on...

September 2023

Ghana. Financial sector assets see 95% growth

The nation’s financial sector assets’ value in nominal terms has almost doubled – recording a growth of 94.96 percent between the end of 2017 and 2022; a period marked by sector clean-ups, the COVID-19 pandemic, Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) as well as recapitalisation of institutions in the sector. This was contained in the Ghana Financial Stability Review dubbed ‘Managing financial stability risks in the midst of a difficult macroeconomic environment and Domestic Debt Exchange Programme’, released by the sector’s...

Ghana. NPRA to prosecute employers who default in paying pensions

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) will continue to track all defaulting employers and put them before the law courts to retrieve the pension monies due employees. Mr. David Tetteh-Amey Abbey, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NPRA, said the Authority would do this to demonstrate its commitment to the financial well-being of employees and their families. “This is what makes the Authority great. It is imperative that we emphasise the significance of regular contributions to pension schemes,” he said. Mr. Abbey...

August 2023

Ghana Restructures $4 Billion in Latest Domestic Debt Exchange

Ghana agreed to terms to swap about $4 billion of domestic debt, taking another step toward meeting its obligations under an International Monetary Fund bailout. The results imply Ghana achieved about 95% target under the latest three debt exchange deals. The country’s Eurobond maturing in 2032 declined by 0.2 cents on Wednesday to 43.7 cents on the dollar. Notes maturing in 2051 dropped by a similar amount to 42 cents on the dollar. Pension funds agreed to exchange 29.6 billion cedis ($2.6...