SBP aims to achieve 75% financial inclusion by 2028

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched the third National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024-28 on Monday, targeting to increase access of banking services by 11 percentage points to 75% adult population in four years.

The strategy is aimed at improving lives and livelihood and ramping up economic activities through giving priority to women, youth and disabled persons, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), housing, agriculture, microfinance and sustainable finance, according to the central bank.

Here is the full text of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024-28 launched by SBP

“The headline targets for NFIS 2024-28 have been set to improve the level of financial inclusion in Pakistan to 75% and reduce the gender gap to 25% by 2028,” the SBP said in the strategy document.

Since 2015, SBP has implemented two National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS), from 2015-2018, and 2019- 2023, with the goal to improve access and usage of formal financial services by the masses. “As a result, financial inclusion level, broadly defined as the share of adult population having a bank account, has jumped from 16% in 2015 to 64% in 2023.”

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The third edition of NFIS 2024-28 aims to leverage progress made under the past two strategies, tackle persistent bottlenecks in financial inclusion, and capitalize on further digitalisation efforts to foster new innovations.

“Particular attention has been given to promote financial inclusion and awareness in the underserved and unserved areas, as well as vulnerable segments of society like women, youth and disabled persons.”

“As of December 2023, 31 million adult women had at least one bank account as compared to 13 million in 2018, due to which, the gender gap has reduced from 47% in 2018 to 34% in 2023.”

Moreover, in order to catalyze inclusive economic growth and development in the country, specific actions have been outlined to revolutionize priority sector financing in the areas of SME, housing, agriculture, microfinance and sustainable finance, with the ultimate aim to enhance the wellbeing of low income and under-privileged population segments.

The 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) acknowledge financial inclusion as a catalyst for achieving developmental objectives. Financial inclusion is therefore integrated into eight out of the seventeen SDGs covering areas such as poverty eradication, hunger alleviation, health improvement, gender equality, economic empowerment, job creation, innovation support, infrastructure development, and inequality reduction.

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The implementation of the two NFIS leveraged new technologies, supportive regulatory frameworks, and enhanced public private partnerships to promote financial inclusion. In particular, schemes such as Asaan Digital Account, Asaan Mobile Account, Raast, provided ease of access to and usage of formal financial services.

Nonetheless, expanding the scope of digital financial services specifically to cater to the needs of the underbanked segments of the society remains a challenge due to general preference for cash embedded in the culture, the strategy report read.