Financial Inclusion in Nigeria Grew to 45 Percent in 2021: World Bank

According to a World Bank report entitled “Global Index Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Era of COVID-19”, the international organization stated that financial inclusion in Nigeria grew by 45% in 2021. In other Es that is, the number of Nigerians who have accounts in regulated institutions such as commercial banks, microfinance banks, finance firms, mobile financial service providers, etc., to 45 percent from a previous mark of 16 percent.

According to this same report, total account ownership in developing economies grew by 30%, from 42% ten years ago in 2011 to 71% in 2021.” Mobile money is driving account ownership growth, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where 33% of adults own a mobile cash account. On the other hand, global account ownership has grown 50% from 2011 to 76% in 2021.

Individual economies have experienced different rates of growth over the last decade. Between 2011 and 2021, economies such as Peru, South Africa, and Uganda led the average in increasing account ownership by 25 percentage points or more, the bank said, adding that “other economies saw much smaller increases over longer periods. Pakistan, for example, has grown by only 10 percentage points over the past decade, from 10% in 2011 to 21% in 2021. The Royal Arab Republic of Egypt and Nigeria increased 18 and 16 percentage points, respectively, from 10% to 27%. , and 30 to 45 percent in Nigeria.”

The bank emphasized the importance of having an account, saying it is an important indicator of financial inclusion, as it allows people to access growth-enhancing financial services.

“In some areas, the proliferation of mobile money accounts has created new opportunities to better serve women, the poor, and other groups that have traditionally been excluded from the formal financial system. Indeed, there is some preliminary evidence that mobile money accounts mobile money can help close the gender gap,” the bank said, emphasizing that mobile money plays an important role in the growth of account ownership in Nigeria and many sub-Saharan African countries. . “In sub-Saharan Africa in 2021, the 55% of adults had an account, including 33% of adults with a mobile cash account, the highest proportion of any region in the world and three times more than the average money account ownership.”

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