The Minister of Communication, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has urged Ghanaians to embrace digital payments for a secure, convenient and low-cost financial service delivery, as the country moves to a cash-lite society.

The Vice-President of Ghana, on Thursday, November 19, 2020, formally outdoored the Universal QR code payment system, which he used to buy local cuisine 'waakye' at Auntie Muni’s at Ridge in the Greater Accra Region.

Ghana has become the first country in Africa and third in the world to roll out a Universal Quick Response (QR) Code payment system.

Ghana’s Universal QR Code follows the successful implementation of Mobile Money Interoperability.

It allows customers to make instant payments for goods and services from different funding sources (mobile wallets, cards, bank accounts) by scanning a quick response code on a smartphone, or dialing the USSD Code of the payment service provider and following the prompts to make payment.

Speaking to the media, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said her ministry, through the National Cyber Security Centre, is working to ensure a fraud-free digital payment infrastructure in the country.

She, therefore, urged Ghanaians to embrace the use of digital payments to increase people's control over their lives and transact business more safely and cheaply across payment platforms.