Back to the complete issue
Wednesday, 13 September 2017

Statements from Amer and the AFI on Financial Inclusion

And as for the main event: More Egyptians than previously thought have access to a bank account. That news came as Amer discussed Egypt’s strategy and initiatives on financial inclusion at the press conference we attended yesterday. He was joined AFI Executive Director Alfred Hannig, and by Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula, chair of the AFI Gender and Women’s Financial Inclusion Committee and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Zambia. Key takeaways:

  • 32% of Egypt’s adults are banked, with total deposits growing EGP 200 bn. Amer signalled that we should be on the lookout for new legislation and policies to drive inclusion. The 32% inclusion rate is important — it’s substantially higher than the “one in 10” number usually bandied about, and we understand the CBE is taking steps to come up with an even more accurate estimate of total participation in the banking sector.
  • The National Payments Council has tasked the Finance Ministry to conduct a sweeping survey of the informal economy, which Amer described as one of the biggest obstacles to financial inclusion.
  • The CBE is working with the AFI on a number of policies which will be announced during the Forum. These will likely be the Sharm El Sheikh Accord on financial inclusion and the Financial Inclusion in the Arab Region Initiative (FIARI) regional policy.
  • These strategies will work hand in hand with current CBE policies, including the CBE Microfinance initiative, which aims to provide EGP 30 bn in financing to around 10 mn beneficiaries, and the SME initiative, which is making some EGP 19 bn in subsidized financing available to small businesses.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.