President Filipe Nyusi has urged Mozambique’s financial institutions to expand their services so that all of the country’s 152 districts have at least one bank branch by 2019.
President Nyusi was speaking on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the Financial Inclusion Fair in the city of Maxixe during the first day of his tour of the southern province of Inhambane.
This was not just a rhetorical demand. On the same day, four major commercial banks, Millennium BIM, BCI, Moza Banco, and Nosso Banco signed contracts with the Rural Development Fund, under which the government commits itself to create the facilities for the physical presence of banks.
The President lamented that although the number of financial institutions operating in Mozambique had increased from 12 to 18 over recent years, only 81 districts have bank branches. As a result, he continued, about ninety per cent of Mozambicans do not hold a bank account, with only three per cent of the population having access to credit.
According to the President, expanding rural banking is a government strategy to promote sustainable development through supplying financial services to local economic operators, employees, and the general public. He added that the initiative also aims to save people’s time as “about a third of the population still spends up to a whole day travelling to the bank”.
President Nyusi stressed the particular importance of banking services such as credit for small-scale farmers and for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.
He also pointed to the importance of educating people about finance to enable them to understand the information provided by banks. This would allow people to choose the right products for their individual needs.
On Wednesday, the President visits the district of Funhalouro whilst on Thursday he will travel to Vilankulo and Inhassoro.
Accompanying the President on his three-day tour of the province are the Minister of the Interior, Jaime Monteiro; Minister of State Administration, Carmelita Namashalua; Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Agostinho Mondlane; Minister of Youth and Sport, Alberto Nkutumula; Minister of Public Works, Carlos Bonete; Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Eusebio Lambo; and staff from the President’s office.