Tanzania has set a new financial inclusion goal of 75 per cent to be reached in 2016. The new target comes as the country surpassed the goal of 55 per cent in 2014, which was supposed to be reached in 2016, thanks to mobile phone money transfer.
Tanzania Bankers Association Chairman Dr Charles Kimei said the financial inclusion
target of 75 per cent comprises all financial platforms—formal and informal banking service.
“To date those in mainstream banking system are still 17 per cent, a lot has to be done to increase the ratio,” Dr Kimei said during the signing ceremony between CRDB and Maxcom Africa partnership.
The current 55 per cent ratio of financial inclusion include mobile phone platforms, which has helped to push the banking services to those previous outside the bracket.
The bank entered into an agreement where Maxicom Africa agents have been incorporated into CRDB’s FahariHuduma agents banking. Last month bank of Tanzania said it was working on a new target after surpassing the existing one two year ahead of deadline in 2016.
The BoT Deputy Governor, Mr Juma Reli, told Daily News in June that the central bank set a target of 55 per cent inclusion some four years ago but mobile transaction enabled them to overtake the target well ahead of time.
“We didn’t underestimate our target, the mobile phone transactions surprised us,” Mr Reli said.
The BoT singled out mobile phones as “one of the most critical links for this phenomenal success” between the unbanked population and financial services.
source:dailynews
