The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced in a statement on Sunday that the country’s indicators point to a significant increase in financial inclusion rates from 2016 to June 2022, achieving a growth rate of 131%.
The CBE clarified that the total number of citizens who have accounts that enable them to conduct financial transactions amounted to 39.6 million, which is equivalent to about 60.6% of citizens 16 years and over.
Furthermore, it earlier announced the formulation of the Financial Inclusion Strategy (2022-2025), which aims to enhance the financial inclusion of society and achieve economic growth within the framework of the efforts made at the state level to achieve the economic empowerment for citizens and companies as per the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and Egypt’s 2030 Vision.
Additionally, it said that the strategy was prepared on a scientific basis based on the results of the field survey of financial services, which was carried out on a representative sample of individuals and medium, small, and micro enterprises (MSMEs) within the formal and informal economies in cooperation with the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics and with technical support from the EU and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), which reflects the strategic partnership with development partners.
The strategy is based on four main axes that are being worked on in a sustainable way, the first of which is financial education and the protection of customer rights, then diversification in banking and non-banking financial services and products according to the needs of customers, creating a work environment for MSMEs and entrepreneurs, and digital financial services.
The CBE pointed out that this comes within the framework of its keenness to cooperate with all state institutions with the aim of providing banking services to all segments of society with fairness, quality, and appropriate cost and empowering them economically, in addition to the governance of control over banking entities in a way that supports the strength of the banking system, promotes sustainable economic growth, and contributes to the development of the rates of access of citizens and MSMEs to financial services and financing by defining a set of internationally recognised indicators.