FINSCOPE TANZANIA 2023 LAUNCHED IN DAR ES SALAAM

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning (URT), Dr. Natu Mwamba (second left) officially launching the FinScope Report 2023 as other dignitaries look on.

• From access to regular usage that drives financial growth

The new FinScope Tanzania 2023 report, which is the fifth in the series of widely acclaimed surveys, has been launched in Dar es Salaam.

The report was launched by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning (URT), Dr. Natu Mwamba and flanked by the Governor of the Bank of Tanzania and Chairperson of the National Council for Financial Inclusion, Mr. Emmanuel Tutuba.

This survey measures the demand, access, uptake and usage of financial services across mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. This year’s survey follows those from 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017 to track and benchmark patterns of use across all types of formal and informal financial services over almost two decades.

In her remarks, Dr. Natu Mwamba said,“I am highly impressed to note from the report that formal financial inclusion improved significantly since the last survey in 2017, from 65% to 76% and that there is also a significant reduction in financial exclusion across gender.”

The PST further pointed out that there is a “stagnation in the banking gender gap”, which she identified as an opportunity for banking representatives. Further, she made a strong call to action for the insurance sub-sector.

“Unlike other sub-sectors, insurance penetration has shrunk (from 15% to 10%), a trend contrary also to its target as by the Financial Sector Development Masterplan, which projects 50% of the adult population accessing and using insurance products by 2030. A consolidated effort is needed by policy makers, regulators as well as financial service providers and innovators to tackle the sector at scale and with new solutions that respond to the risk mitigation needs of Tanzanians.”

Meanwhile the BoT Governor, Mr. Emmanuel Tutuba, further emphasized on the importance of studies such as FinScope Tanzania for the continuous measure of the state of financial inclusion, and their significance in the measurement and crafting of the National Financial Inclusion Frameworks.

He further reassured the delegates that the trends observed by FinScope Tanzania 2023, and especially the gaps, which clearly pinpoint a dire need towards regular usage for increased financial growth, will inform key shifts in the new National Financial Inclusion Framework 2023-2028, which is anticipated to belaunched soon.

In his remarks, Mr. Eric Massinda, the Interim CEO of the Financial Sector Deepening Tanzania (FSDT) stated, “The launch of the key findings report is just the beginning of a larger public sector engagement in the drive towards evidence-based decision making and solutions development in the financial sector.”

He said there will be deep stakeholder engagements for wider dissemination of the FinScope Tanzania 2023 findings for the next couple of months.