By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson, I.
The Government of Liberia through the Central Bank of Liberia and the Ministry of Finance on Thursday, March 27, 2025, launched the National Financial Education Program and the Pan African and Settlement System.
The NFES which was held under the theme: “Inclusive Economic Growth Through Financial Education and Pass,” has several key objectives aimed at improving financial knowledge, understanding, skills, motivation, and confidence among Liberians to secure positive financial outcomes and strengthening financial inclusion; fostering collaboration among various stakeholders to develop and as well as implement financial education programs; and ensuring that all children receive financial education while at school.
The PAPSS is intended to facilitate cross-border payments by enabling instant and secure cross-border payments in local currencies across Africa, simplifying the process and reducing the costs and hurdles associated with foreign exchange.
Officially Launching the National Financial Education Program and the Pan African and Settlement System which is an important component of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is a free trade zone that includes all 55 African Union (AU) member states, the Liberian leader, President Joseph Nyumah Boakai stated that the launch of the National Financial Literacy and Education Program, and the Pan African Payment and Settlement System are laudable initiatives, which will positively impact his administration’s ARREST Agenda.
The Liberian President asserted that the two initiatives launched have been well established, globally and supported by empirical evidence – that financial education can contribute to financial inclusion, which in turn can contribute to inclusive economic development.
President Boakai intimated that Financial education helps individuals understand various financial products and services. “Equipped with financial education, people will have the confidence to engage with financial institutions and take control of their finances. This can lead to increased use of formal financial services, financial empowerment, private sector growth, and sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Secondly, once people get financially included because of their knowledge and use of financial products, they are more likely to start and grow their businesses, invest in their future, and contribute to the economic growth of the country.” President Boakai intimated
The President provided that the National Financial Education Program and the Pan African and Settlement System, are
important for the financially-excluded groups, such as women and low-income communities. Asserting that it is precisely what the ARREST Agenda strives to address. With the help of the Central Bank-led Financial Education Program, this is achievable.
“It can never be an over-statement to mention that financial inclusion, brought on by financial education, will empower women and other financially excluded groups by providing them with the tools to manage their finances, start their businesses, and make economic decisions. This promotes gender equality and social inclusion.
Not only that! Financial education can enable those who are financially literate to access financial services such as insurance and savings.”
In furtherance, President Boakai revealed that the 2022 Findex Report (a World Bank-published report) showed that the National Financial Inclusion Rate of Liberia was 52% compared to the 36% recorded in 2017.
Stating that the gender financial inclusion gap for the same period was 15.4% (male: 59.34% and female: 44.2%). Adding that it is above that of sub-Saharan Africa at 12.32%.
Meanwhile, he provided that while these disparities may not be that discouraging, his Administration believes that with concerted financial education programs, intervention, and initiatives, Liberia can significantly improve the situation by increasing these figures further.
The President added that the PAPSS which is intended to facilitate cross-border payments by enabling instant and secure cross-border payments in local currencies across Africa, considering that the Liberian economy has a perennial foreign exchange problem, will be a monumental achievement to have businesses conducting cross-border trade without having to first convert the Liberian dollar to the US dollar.
The President asserted that the PASS helped to save Liberia’s scarce foreign exchange and build its international reserves, thereby strengthening the external position of our country and the value of the Liberian dollar.
Adding that the PAPSS will accelerate the Government’s de-dollarization policy by facilitating transactions in local currency which, ultimately, will help stabilize the Liberian economy and reduce exchange rate volatility.
At the same time, President Boakai asserted that the vital education required for individuals and businesses to have confidence in the security and efficiency of PAPSS will come from financial education.
Something he stated would lead to trust and confidence in PAPSS.
Therefore, he encouraged widespread adoption and usage of the system.
The National Financial Education Strategy for Liberia (NFES) is a comprehensive plan designed
to provide Liberians with the necessary financial education to manage their money effectively.
This initiative has been led by the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) with technical support from the World Bank Group.
The NFES has several key objectives: improving financial knowledge, understanding, skills, motivation, and confidence among Liberians to secure positive financial outcomes; strengthening financial inclusion; fostering collaboration among various stakeholders to develop and implement financial education programs; and ensuring that all children receive financial education while at school.
It is part of a broader effort to achieve public policy goals, such as enhancing financial inclusion, promoting financial stability, and ensuring fair consumer treatment. This multi-pronged approach involves financial regulation and supervision, commitment from financial institutions to treat consumers fairly, and improved access to financial products and
services.
The target audiences for the NFES include schoolchildren, youth, and people living in both
rural and urban areas.
Programs will be developed to provide financial education to these groups through various means, such as incorporating financial education into the school curriculum, offering financial education for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students and university students, workplace financial education, and delivering financial education messages through intermediaries, and radio broadcasts.
The CBL will work to strengthen collaboration to mobilize resources and capacity for implementation.
A master training module will be developed to facilitate the Training of Trainers (ToT) program that will be decentralized across the country to lead training and implementation of financial education at the community level. This will include face-to-face training, multimedia engagements, and infusion of financial education into the national curriculum.
Overall, the NFES aims to foster a financially literate population capable of making informed
financial decisions, thus contributing to the overall economic stability and growth of
Liberia.
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) is a financial market infrastructure
for Africa’s economic and monetary integration. It is a centralized payment and settlement system for intra-African trade and commerce and is designed to effect payments in local
currencies and use the Central Bank as a settlement agent.
PAPSS İs a 24-hour payment system, making it possible to transfer money any time of the day and any day of the week. PAPSS makes it easy for a supplier of textiles in Monrovia to purchase
goods in Ghana or Nigeria without any struggle of looking for foreign currency or waiting for more than two days to have the transfer completed. All the buyer has to do is transfer the
amount for the cost of the goods in Liberian dollars to the seller’s bank in Ghana and then the seller will be paid in Cedes in Ghana.
The Central Bank of Liberia is the settlement agent for PAPSS in Liberia and eight (8) out of nine
(9) commercial banks have signed up to the system. They are Ecobank Liberia Limited, United
Bank for Africa (UBA), Sapele International Bank Liberia Limited (SIBLL), International Bank
Liberia Limited (IBLL) Access Bank Liberia, Guaranty Trust Bank-Liberia (GTBank), Afriland First Bank and Bloom Bank Africa-Liberia Limited.
