A recent survey reveals that Fiji has made significant progress in financial inclusion over the past five years with the level of formal financial inclusion among Fijians increasing to 81 per cent in 2020 from 64 per cent in 2014.
The Financial Services Demand Side Survey (DSS) 2020 Report released by the Reserve Bank of Fiji yesterday showed a 17 per cent decline in the number of Fijians excluded from the formal financial sector which was supported by a 23 per cent growth in the number of Fijian women owning a bank account, and similarly for youths and the self-employed.
RBF governor and chairman of the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce, Ariff Ali said the favourable outcome was a result of the successful partnership and collaboration with key stakeholders to deliver targeted initiatives that were crucial for financial inclusion. “…information collected from the DSS will complement supply-side data captured by the RBF from licensed financial institutions and will in turn offer evidence-based inputs to formulate the next five-year National Financial Inclusion Strategy and support the development of a sustainable and inclusive financial ecosystem for all Fijians,” he said.
The survey also showed that other financial inclusion instruments such as savings, remittances and mobile money usage noted improvements of 45 per cent, 34 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. According to the RBF the 2020 report highlighted key areas of focus for financial inclusion stakeholders including a lower yet persistent gender gap in account ownership and the need for greater digital financial services, insurance and green-finance related awareness.
The survey was conducted by the RBF in partnership with the Fiji Bureau of Statistics from October 26 to December 4, 2020, with funding from the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
The DSS collects information that helps in measuring financial inclusion progress and provides an understanding of the financial situation among Fijian adults, including the needs and barriers of different segments of the population.
