It’s surprising in 2018 that Ghana is still on PayPal’s blacklist while other African countries like Nigeria get to enjoy the service.
But after a visit to Silicon Valley a couple of weeks ago by the Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and a tech delegation, it looks like PayPal is ready to give Ghana a chance.
The Vice President revealed this when speaking at the launch of Ghana’s mobile interoperability system on Thursday.
“I am happy to announce that Ghana has concluded discussions with PayPal, and Ghana will, therefore, if all goes well, will become one of the PayPal compliant countries in two phases. According to the roadmap presented by PayPal, by the second half of 2019, Ghanaian merchants should be able to receive payments for their goods sold online. By the first half of 2020 Ghanaian consumers would be able to make payments for goods and services purchased online via Paypal accounts,” Dr. Bawumia said.
The announcement is a long time coming for users in Ghana. In 2004, PayPal blacklisted Ghana, along with Nigeria and some other sub-Saharan countries due to the high incidence of credit card fraud.
Nigeria was eventually taken off PayPal’s blacklist in 2014 but Ghana remained on the list.
If everything goes according to plan, PayPal users in Ghana will finally be able to use the service again next year.
