Get Instant Loan up to ₹10 Lakh!
Two billion adults use only cash: World Bank
India and China accounted for half the increase in the number of the world's 'banked', according to a World Bank report
About two billion adults worldwide are “unbanked,” down from 2.5 billion in 2011, the World Bank says in a new report based on a survey of about 150,000 people in more than 140 countries. Unbanked people are frozen out of the financial system and must deal strictly in cash: no deposits, no checks, no mortgages, no ATMs. The World Bank report—released on 15 April, conducted in conjunction with Gallup World Poll, and paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—has some surprises:
-- The Middle East is the most unbanked part of the world. Only 14% of adults have accounts, compared with 62% worldwide.
-- India and China accounted for half the increase in the number of the world’s “banked”. But 43% of Indians who reported having accounts said they hadn’t made a deposit or withdrawal in at least 12 months.
-- The US ain’t No. 1. Only 94% of Americans said they had a financial account, compared with100% in Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden.
-- Sub-Saharan Africa is the only part of the world where many people have “mobile money” accounts through their cell-phone companies but don’t have ordinary bank accounts.
-- In developing countries, 46% of savers said they saved only informally—such as by stashing cash at home or saving in the form of jewellery, livestock, or real estate.
Increasing financial inclusion is crucial, the World Bank report says:
Studies show that when people participate in the financial system, they are better able to start and expand businesses, invest in education, manage risk, and absorb financial shocks. Access to accounts and to savings and payment mechanisms increases savings, empowers women, and boosts productive investment and consumption. Access to credit also has positive effects on consumption—as well as on employment status and income and on some aspects of mental health and outlook.
The report also looked at what percent of men and women in each country was “unbanked.” In an interview, World Bank economist Leora Klapper, the report’s lead author, said women like having accounts because it helps them keep control of their money. A factory worker in Bangladesh complained to Klapper that when she was paid in cash, her mother-in-law would wait outside the factory gates each week to take the money from her.
Nigeria’s ministry of agriculture and rural development is a leader in getting people cheaply “banked.” The government used to use a network of distributors to deliver fertilizer and seed to farmers, but corruption was rampant. In 2012, minister Akinwumi Adesina introduced an “electronic wallet” that puts vouchers for fertilizer and seed into e-wallets on the farmer’s mobile phones, allowing them to buy what they needed, when they needed it. Corruption and inefficiency declined dramatically. Adesina, who visited Bloomberg on 14 April, is touting the success of electronic wallets in his candidacy for the presidency of the African Development Bank. Bloomberg
Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
MoreLess
First Published:16 Apr 2015, 09:10 AM IST
- Top Gainers
- Top Losers
- 52 Week High