The impact of salary payment frequency on consumption smoothing, saving and investment patterns of civil servants in Ghana

The project aims to investigate how the frequency of salary payments impacts the ability of civil servants in developing countries to manage liquidity shocks, save, and invest. It also seeks to assess whether combining increased salary frequency with automatic savings deductions can help civil servants both smooth out financial shocks and save for larger investments. This will be tested by paying civil servants through mobile money services, leveraging the Ghana card to integrate them into the mobile money system. The digitization of salary payments allows for flexible payment schedules, salary-linked loans, and automatic savings deductions. The project intends to collaborate with banks and telecom providers to design products that incorporate these features. The focus on civil servants is due to their status as one of the largest wage-earning groups in developing countries. While digital salary payments have been explored with telecom and factory workers, this study will be the first to vary payment frequency for civil servants.