NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

As part of its goal to have 100 percent of adults formally financially included and to build a robust payments system that facilitates a cashless economy by 2020, Rwanda is targeting 80 percent financial inclusion by 2017 through the aid of the Financial Sector Development Programme II.

“Rwanda has set an ambitious objective of reaching 80 percent of formal financial inclusion by 2017, and I am pleased to say that significant progress has already been made towards achieving this target,” says John Rwangombwa, Governor, National Bank of Rwanda.

According to Jean Bosco Iyacu, Technical Manager at Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), “We have a target, by 2017 to reach 80 percent financial inclusion and by 2012 we had 72 percent, so this year we should know around April what level we are at.”

A stumbling block
Some analysts, however, say financial illiteracy could be a stumbling block to achieving this goal.
“Last year it was found that too few people understood what the budget was; bringing about concerns that if Rwanda does not have financial education, the likelihood for financial inclusion would also be slim,” reports CNBC Africa.