Togo: Mobile Money drives financial inclusion according to World Bank

In World Bank’s latest Global Findex released April 19, it is shown that Togo has made considerable improvements in 2014-2017.

Under the sub-Saharan Africa category, Togo indeed, over the period, recorded the financial inclusion rate, ahead of countries like Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Chad or Mali.

While in the region, proportion of individuals with more than 15 years having a bank account almost doubled over the period reviewed (from 23% in 2011 to 43% in 2017), in Togo this figure soared from 18% to 45%. Now, almost 25% of adult population (+15 years old) have a traditional bank account. The surge was mainly driven by mobile payment.

Indeed, when this service arrived four years ago with Moov, many turned to it (actually counts about 12% of adult population integrated in the financial system) as it eased payment of various services such as power bills, or facilitated money transfers to relatives. In three years only, number of e-payment users tripled; a significant achievement for financial inclusion.

So, more than 10% of Togolese in the financial system have both a bank account and a mobile money account (T-money and Flooz).

A trend which is very likely to be more accentuated in the years to come, especially with the rise of mobile penetration rate (currently at about 80%). Truly, this is because many find mobile money as the best option to prevent corruption, even if the technology is not devoid of challenges.

Despite all progress made by Togo regarding financial inclusion, the country, just like other developing nations and even some developed ones such as France, still has to overcome the gender barrier in this framework. Indeed, this gap widened by 10% over the past few years.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

SOURCE:www.togofirst.com