78 per cent Ugandans financially included - survey

More Ugandans are now accessing financial services, reducing the number of people saving money through informal means.

According to a Finscope survey, 78 per cent of Ugandans are now financially included through mobile money, banking, micro finance institutions and Saccos.
The survey, which is conducted every three years, found that at least 14.4 million Ugandans above 16 years have access to either of the services mentioned above.

Speaking to the media ahead of the release of the findings in Kampala early next week, Mr Protazio Sande, the chairman of Steering committee of Finscope, said the survey shows that more people are accessing financial services through mobile money as opposed to banks, micro lending institutions and Saccos.

“More than half of Ugandan adults 58 per cent (10.8m) have taken up formal financial services and 56 per cent (10.3m) use informal services while 36 per cent use both,” he said adding: “While formal inclusion has increased from 52 per cent to 58 per cent, reliance on informal financial services has declined to 20 per cent from 26 per cent in 2013.”

In addition, there has been significant increase in financial inclusion since 2006 from 57 per cent to 78 in 2018 attributed to mobile money as being the biggest driver. However, Mr Protazio said the new tax (on mobile money) will impact financial inclusion even as it will be diminutive since there are no alternatives.
Beginning July, government will charge 1 per cent on mobile money transactions.