“The delivery of financial services and products in a way that is available, accessible and affordable to all segments of society and plays a pivotal role in combatting poverty and contributing to inclusive economic growth.”
| Level of Financial Inclusion |
|---|
| Exclusion |
| Informal Inclusion |
| Formal Inclusion |
*** Survey of MSMEs in Zimbabwe conducted October 2021 and survey of MSMEs in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia in November 2023
Compliance looks at the status of registration of the enterprise. A fully compliant enterprise (formal inclusion) is one that is both registered as a business and registered for tax purposes. A partially compliant enterprise (informal inclusion) is one that is registered but not for tax purposes. Those who are not registered are excluded from compliance.
More enterprises are unregistered in Malawi than in the other 3 countries.
More enterprises are unregistered in Malawi than the other 3 countries.
Barriers are also divided into formal barriers which are controlled by the service provider such as bureaucracy and affordability. Informal barriers are those that the client/enterprise owner can control such as documentation. Those that do not face any of these barriers are.
About 30% of enterprises in Malawi and Zimbabwe encounter barriers to accessing and using financial products and services.
Access looks at the financial products and services that an enterprise has used. Formal financial products include bank accounts, mobile money accounts, business insurance products, pension policies and formal savings accounts. Informal products include loans from loan sharks, other businesses, family, friends, and savings plans by keeping cash.
Over half of Malawian enterprises do not have access to financial products and services.
Over half of Malawian enterprises do not have access to financial products and services.
Usage explores how effectively an enterprise uses the financial products and services that they have access to. The more frequently they use and interact with the product/service indicates a higher use.
Over 90% of Zambian enterprises effectively use their financial products and services (73% make frequent use).
The 2024 version of the index investigated the extent to which enterprises adopted digital financial products and services such as cryptocurrency, social media and payment gateways. Informal inclusion indicates that the enterprise has access to the product while formal inclusion required the effective use.
NB: No data available on the digital inclusion of Zimbabwe enterprises
About half of Kenyan and Zambian enterprises do not have access to digital financial products and services, this is over 60% in Malawi.
To learn more about the different levels of financial inclusion between women-led enterprises, urban-based enterprises, youth-led enterprises and micro enterprises; go through to Analysis.
View Analysis