Global Findex: Indonesia leads East Asia and the Pacific in financial inclusion progress
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
THE latest Global Findex (Financial Inclusion Index) database released by the World Bank finds that Indonesia has made the most progress, across East Asia and the Pacific, in bringing its citizens into the formal financial system in the past three years.
Almost fifty percent (48.9%) of the adults in Indonesia now own a bank account, reflecting a true turning point in the country’s journey to boost financial inclusion. This also registers a marked improvement from its 36% of account ownership in 2014 and 20% in 2011. Between 2014 and 2017, Indonesia also saw the biggest account ownership increase of any developing economy in the East Asia and Pacific region.
Indonesia also boasts a strong use of accounts for saving, registering 10 percentage points higher than the developing world average. Forty-two percent of account owners save at a formal financial institution such as a bank or microfinance institution.
Photo courtesy of Water.org.
