Kigali, 12 September 2019

Prime Minister Dr Ngirente has encouraged financial institutions to ensure that all the citizens especially youth are financially included and have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs.

 He made the call this Thursday while officially opening the 11th Alliance for Financial Inclusion Global Policy Forum 2019 that convened at the Kigali Convention Centre under the theme of “Using technology in the inclusion of women and youth.”

 The Premier pointed out that statistics show that the world’s unbanked population dropped from 2.5 billion in 2011 to 1.7 billion in 2017.

Despite increasing financial inclusion, a big proportion of youth continues to be financially excluded. He added

 “In Sub-Saharan Africa, where over 60% of the population fall below the age of 25, most of them are less likely to have a bank account compared to adults.” Prime Minister Ngirente says.

 Therefore, there is a great need to empower our youth to access useful and affordable financial products and services. He added.

Dr Ngirente reiterated that since many of the youth have a keen interest in digital channels, digital financial services (DFS) accessed and delivered through their mobile phones, could be the solution to banking them.

 Prime minister said that thanks to the efforts and resources in establishing ICT infrastructure as a means to facilitate financial inclusion in Rwanda, the level of financial inclusion increased from 21% in 2008 to 89% in 2016.

Participants at the Forum were reminded that that financial inclusion is considered as a tool for economic transformation, especially in improving welfare and the general standard of living, wealth creation as well as poverty reduction. 

This two-days conference, which is jointly hosted by the Central Bank of Rwanda (BNR) and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), brought together around 800 delegates, including policymakers, regulatory institutions and development partners from more than eighty emerging and developing countries.

 To read the whole speech, click here

 For pictures of the whole event, click here