MINFI declares 2023 – 2027 period of inclusive finance.

Discussions were on how to step up and enhance financial inclusion on a sustainable basis. During the event, the Minister presented a new document prepared by the government in collaboration with development partners to enable the government facilitate the task of enhancing financial inclusion in the country.
The development partners at the event included; United Nations Development Programme, UNDP; the French Development Agency, AFD; the German Cooperation Mission, GIZ among others.

In it, the government plans to ensure that the running of day-to-day state affairs henceforth focuses on improving the quality of accessibility to financial information.
This is particularly for segments of the population considered to be having low access to financial information.
The government will also facilitate access to financial information to small and medium sized private sector enterprises operating in the country. 

This is especially for those involved in agriculture and the transformation of agricultural produce and food processing. Government, it was said at the meeting, will also take steps to promote innovations in the financial inclusion sector. 

The goal here will be to make sure groups identified as most vulnerable to exclusion viz; women, girls, rural dwellers, youth and the physically challenged are given special treatment with regards to getting financial information.

Government also promised to promote the development of the Islamic financial system in Cameroon. Experts say the system is the most convenient in promoting financial inclusion in other economic systems, even among the most vulnerable and excluded groups.

Even more important, is government´s determined drive to promote financial education. This is anchored on consumer protection; which officials say has the potential to foster financial exclusion of vulnerable groups.
Above all, government plans to ameliorate fiscal and status regulations in such a way as to favour groups that are identified as most vulnerable to financial exclusion.

The Minister of Finance admitted that financial inclusion is a fundamental question which governments and other political institutions the world over must grapple with at varied points in time. He also revealed that in Africa, less than 20% of households still lack access to formal financial services. This segment of the population does not use services offered by insurance companies, commercial banks, microfinance institutions and so on.
Insisting that such low level of financial inclusion is not only a hindrance to socio-economic development, the Minister said it works to frustrate the effort government is making in the fight to reduce poverty and income inequality.

He also talked of the belief that adequate financial inclusion is a lever that promotes economic stability. The Minister of Finance also said, it informs monetary and financial decisions; promotes better savings and investment choices and promote better home management.

Even state instrument of financial and monetary politics, he said, are enhanced through a high level of financial inclusion, just as overall functioning of the national economy. In an environment dominated by gnawing poverty, generalized unemployment, inequality and social exclusion, the Minister said there is no doubt that insecurity is widespread.  

He cited bizarre examples from Boko Haram atrocities in the Far North Region and the crisis in the North West and South West Regions. When the coronavirus pandemic is added to these, the Minister said the task of promoting financial inclusion becomes even more daunting. These factors, he said, help to aggravate exclusion and work in a vicious cycle to reinforce poverty, exclusion and insecurity.

Therefore, within the next half decade, government, Motaze said, will work to bring the level of financial inclusion to at least 65%.