Within the framework of the efforts exerted on the state level towards achieving the economic empowerment of all citizens, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) released its core set of financial inclusion indicators on Tuesday.
The indicators contribute to measuring the level and trends of financial services and products’ outreach to all segments of society to attain sustainable growth and economic stability.
The core set demonstrated a significant increase in financial inclusion rates in the past six years, reflecting an estimated growth rate of 115%, bringing the total ownership of transactional accounts — ranging between all type of accounts at banks, Egypt Post, mobile wallets, and prepaid cards — to 36.8m citizens, representing 56.2% out of the total 65.4m eligible adults (Over the age of 16).
In terms of women’s financial inclusion, the issued indicators showed an upsurge in the number of females who own a transactional account, which recorded 16m women at the end of 2021, representing a growth rate of 171% compared to 2016.
Furthermore, the total number of issued prepaid cards jumped to an average of 39,883 cards per 100,000 adults, while the number of mobile wallets reached 38,505 wallets per 100,000 adults.
The indicators also showed that the number of financial access points — which include branch networks of banks, Egypt Post, microfinance institutions, ATMs, points of sale, and payment service providers — reached 1,037 points per 100,000 adults.
It is worth noting that the issuance of the financial inclusion core set of indicators by the CBE effectively contributes to a good understanding of the Egyptian market and consumers’ behaviour, which supports informing the development of policies that reinforce their economic empowerment.
