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RBM says access to banking services up 15%

Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) says the number of people accessing banking services in the country has gone up for the past seven years by 15 percent.

RBM director of microfinance and capital markets supervision, Hastings Mzoma, said this in Mzuzu on Friday ahead of the National Financial Literacy Week which starts today.

Mzoma: There is a boom
Mzoma: There
is a boom

He said a fiscal survey the central bank conducted this year has shown that the rate of adults accessing banking services has jumped to 34 percent from 19 percent in 2008, representing a 15 percent increase.

Said Mzoma: “A fiscal survey in 2008 showed that only 19 percent of the country’s adult population had access to banking services.

“Since then, we have experienced a boom in the number of banking facilities from 45 percent in 2008 to 55 percent in 2015. In the process, the number of people seeking banking services has also been increasing.”

He was quick to acknowledge that the increase is against a background that most Malawians struggle to understand financial issues due to absence of proper guidelines to allow such information to appear in vernacular languages.

The National Financial Literacy Week is aimed at raising awareness of financial products and services available in the country’s financial institutions.

During the week, experts will help people understand financial matters such as bank rates, insurance products, what pension is all about and how people can save money and invest in right instruments. —Mana

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