TANZANIA sits the front in Africa for the provision of the most conducive environment for financial inclusion, this is due to the policies allowing non-banking institutions to provide financial services.
This was revealed by Professor Beno Ndulu, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Governor, on the opening remark of the workshop of financial inclusion on 17th Mach, 2016.
“In 2005, we were ranked number six among 55 countries in the world, leading all other African countries, Tanzania has taken the top spot for financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is 6th globally for providing the most conducive environment for financial inclusion,” Prof. Ndulu elaborated.
According to Finscope survey of 2013, financial services had reached to 76 per cent of the population by 2013 from 44 per cent in 2009 largely due to introduction of agent banking and the entry of mobile telephone companies in provision of financial services.
The Monetary Statement of the first half of the 2015/16 fiscal year also shows that BoT is targeting to have at least 70 per cent of the population living within five kilometres of a financial access point by 2017.
The research revealed that 21% of adults have a mobile money account, compared to 7% only of adults with account at a financial institution and the most common mode of sending or receiving domestic remittances is through mobile phones, either through a mobile money account or a mobile over the counter transaction.
