The Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) in collaboration with the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) is in the last stages of finalizing the 2nd National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2016 – 2020. A draft has been developed by the AFC Consulting and submitted to CEFI and BPNG. Key stakeholders, Developmental Partners and the Government of Papua New Guinea have been an integral part of the drafting of the second strategy and will be invited to finalize the strategy which is an extension of the first strategy which focuses primarily on financial inclusion particularly microfinance industry, inclusive insurance and mobile money. The new strategy is planned to be launched in mid-December this year.
the first strategy in retrospect went over and beyond set target reflecting the largely uncaptured market in rural communities of PNG which saw an increase in the opening of new accounts and micro-insurance. The countries rugged geographic terrain and the remoteness of communities has necessitated the usage of mobile banking which saw an increase in the number of subscribers. The second strategy builds in this and calls for innovative measures for a country as challenging as Papua New Guinea.
Briefly the second strategy aims to double to number of new accounts (2 million), formalize Financial Education into the curriculum of educational institutions, strengthen the growth of microfinance and embrace technology in the innovative financial services.
