From the evening of Monday 2 November until Thursday 5 November, Her Majesty Queen Máxima will visit the Republic of Ghana in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA). She will speak with people who use financial services, as well as with representatives of government, development organisations and financial institutions, about policies and services that contribute to the financial resilience and the wellbeing of Ghana’s people.
The visit will focus on four aspects that are key to the country’s financial health: embedding the theme in government policy, funding the agriculture sector, developing financial services that help people budget and save, and making long-term investments affordable for households. In terms of financial inclusion, Ghana leads the way in Africa. Over 80% of adults have a current account as well as access to loans, savings products and insurance (Global Findex 2025). But access alone is not enough. According to a study carried out by FinScope in 2021, 22% of adults in Ghana are financially healthy, 44% are coping and 34% are financially vulnerable. As UNSGSA, Queen Máxima advocates for financial products, services and policies that give people control over their daily finances, protect them against unforeseen expenses, help them invest in their quality of life, and ultimately enable them to become financially stable. These are the four pillars of financial health.
Tuesday 3 November: Upper West Akim District and Accra
Queen Máxima will visit a farm and a dried fruit factory. She will speak about financial health in the workplace with farmers, factory workers, employers and representatives of three agritech businesses supported by IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative. They will discuss crop insurance, salary advances, long-term saving schemes and pensions. Other contributors to financial health are Fairtrade agreements with farmers that guarantee the purchase of produce against a fair price and loans that enable farmers to compensate loss of income due to seasonal fluctuations.
At a hospital, Queen Máxima will speak with staff and patients about the remote monitoring of high blood pressure and diabetes via an app. Both these chronic conditions are common in Ghana. The app was developed as a pilot by the NGO PharmAccess and several national partners. As a result, unnecessary treatment and medical expenses can be avoided for both patients and insurers, and the quality of care improved. Ghana has a national health insurance scheme which covers basic healthcare.
At a market in Accra, Queen Máxima will speak with women entrepreneurs who manage their finances using the fintech app Affinity. The app links loan applications to savings products. The loan conditions are determined by the user’s credit history in the app, within their financial means. This reduces the risk of problematic debt, and the entrepreneur automatically builds their savings. Lastly, Queen Máxima will take part in a meeting with entrepreneurs, who will tell her about the challenges they face and their ambitions for better financial health.
Wednesday 4 November: Accra and Kumasi
In the morning Queen Máxima will speak with investors about financial health as the underlying principle of their investment strategies. At the Bank of Ghana she will meet with CEOs of financial institutions to discuss ways of incorporating the topic of financial health into the services they provide to their customers. At the World Bank country office she will speak about promoting long-term saving and opportunities for improving the funding level of pensions, including for employees in the informal sector, for whom this is currently virtually impossible.
In the afternoon Queen Máxima will travel to Kumasi to pay a courtesy visit to the King of the Ashanti Kingdom, Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II and his wife, Lady Julia Osei Tutu. The visit will end with a roundtable meeting about financial health with several Ashanti chiefs.
Thursday 5 November: Accra
At the Ministry of Finance, Queen Máxima will meet with Minister for Finance Cassiel Ato Forson and Minister for Food and Agriculture Eric Opoku. At the Bank of Ghana she will speak with Governor Johnson Pandit Asiama. After this she will be at Jubilee House for a meeting with the President of Ghana, John Mahama. These three meetings will all follow on from previous meetings earlier this year. In September Queen Máxima spoke with President Mahama at the 81st United Nations General Assembly. She met with the Minister for Finance and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group.
The UN visit to Ghana will conclude with a national event organised by the Ministry of Finance on a strategy for financial inclusion and financial health. Queen Máxima will join a fireside chat at this event.
Queen Máxima will be accompanied on the visit by a number of representatives of her Reference Group, including from the CGAP and the World Bank.
Government Information Service, no. 276