Access to Financial Services in Kenya
Access to Financial Services in Kenya
| Post date: Fri, Oct 7, 2016 | | Category: Finance | |
This week’s number reveals the major progress made in terms of access to financial services in Kenya. The chart below shows the evolution of access to financial services between 2006 and 2016. There is a significant change from the financially excluded to those with access to these services within the ten year period analyzed.
Access to financial services between 2006 and 2016
Source: FSD Kenya, FinAcess Household survey (2016), Republic of Kenya (2016); Economic Survey 2016
The formal sector consists of the share of the population using or has access to formal financial systems which include commercial banks, microfinance institutions, mobile financial services e.t.c whereas the “excluded” consists of the population of those who have no access or do not use these services
Only 26 percent of the population had access to a formal finance system in 2006 while 38 percent were completely excluded. Currently however, the trend has completely changed as shown in the chart above. The excluded population accounts for only 17 percent a decrease of 21 percent from 2006 while the formal sector represents 75 percent, an increase of 49 percent from 2006. Implying that a higher percentage of people are now using and are able to access formal financial services.
The informal financial services have also considerably diminished with a decrease of 28 percent from 35 percent in 2006 to only 7 percent.
Number of the Week: 21
- In 2016, it is estimated that up to 75 percent of the population has access to financial services through formal networks, this represents an increase by 49 percentage points from 2006
- Over the course of ten years, the informal financial sector has decreased by 28 percentage points, that is from 35 percent to 7 percent in 2006 and 2016 respectively
- Moreover, the excluded population constituted 38 percent of the Kenyan population in 2006 but it is estimated to be 17 percent in 2016, thus representing a decline of 21 percentage points
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