The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) released its financial inclusion indicators for 2022, which contribute to monitoring the progress of the usage of financial services, products, and access points by all segments of the society, to attain sustainable growth and economic stability, in alignment to the sustainable development goals and Egypt’s Vision 2030.
The indicators demonstrated a significant increase in financial inclusion rates during the period from 2016-2022, reflecting a growth rate of 147%, bringing the total ownership of transactional accounts (bank accounts, Egypt Post accounts, mobile wallets, and prepaid cards) to 42.3 million citizens, representing 64.8% of the total 65.4 million eligible adults (+16 years old).
With regards to women’s financial inclusion, the released indicators showed an upsurge in the number of females who own a transactional account, which recorded 18.3 million women by the end of 2022, representing a growth rate of 210% compared to 2016.
Prepaid Cards’ total number jumped to an average of 43.8 thousand cards per 100,000 citizens, with a growth rate of 31% during the period from 2020 to 2022, while the number of Mobile Wallets reached 46.5 thousand wallets per 100,000 adults, implying an increase by 54% for the same period.
The indicators also showed that the number of financial access points – which include; banks’ network of branches, Egypt Post, Microfinance Institutions, ATMs, POSs, and Payment Service Providers – has reached 1,214 points per 100,000 citizens, signifying an expansion rate of 107% during the period from 2020 to 2022.
It is worth mentioning that the issuance of the core set of financial inclusion indicators by the Central Bank contributes effectively to tracking the level and trends of financial inclusion, which helps to develop policies that support the economic empowerment of citizens.
