At a major forum convened by the World Bank
Group at the just concluded IMF/World Bank
Group Annual Meetings in Washington DC,
bankers, financial leaders and government
functionaries of member countries set a goal
of achieving universal financial access by 2020 as a way to accelerate economic progress and
reduce extreme poverty. The leaders at the forum included Nigeria’s
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. According to the World Bank spokesman for
Africa, Agustin Castro, the goal is of utmost
importance since 2.5 billion adults worldwide
are ‘un-banked’ and almost 200 million micro
to medium enterprises in developing
economies lack access to affordable financial services and credit. This, he said, the bank
considers as a major obstacle to reducing
poverty levels and create much needed new
jobs. Also, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Okonjo
Iweala, told journalists attending the meeting
at a post annual press briefing that Nigeria has
secured a $1.4billion support facility from the
World Bank to speed up the development of
the power sector and infrastructure in Nigeria. She said “The World Bank has pledged to
support Nigeria’s power sector and
infrastructure development with about $1.4
billion. The World Bank is planning to set up a
global infrastructure facility and Nigeria would
be among the first countries to benefit considering its population and infrastructure
needs.” According to the World Bank Group “More than
50 countries have now made commitments to
financial inclusion targets. “If they fulfill their
commitments, if other countries also set bold
targets, and if the private sector responds by
unleashing its resources and know-how – then we can reach universal access by 2020,” said
Kim. In a dialogue with Her Majesty Queen Máxima
of the Netherlands – who is the United Nations
Secretary General’s Special Advocate for
Inclusive Finance for Development and the
Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership
for Financial Inclusion – Kim noted that financial inclusion can be a powerful
accelerator of economic progress, and can help
achieve the World Bank Group’s goals of
eliminating extreme poverty and building
shared prosperity.
The importance of universal access to financial services was also emphasized by Queen
Máxima who pointed out that every person and
every business in any country deserves that
opportunity. The priority of broadening
financial inclusion to individuals and small
businesses globally was underscored by a panel of government and business leaders. “Beyond ensuring universal financial access, a
challenge which we all face is to ensure that
financial services are available to meet the
range of household and enterprise needs,”
remarked Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance of Nigeria who recently
launched Nigeria’s financial inclusion strategy. “Rwanda has an ambitious vision for financial
inclusion, and I am pleased to say that we have
made significant progress already towards that
target, almost doubling formal financial
inclusion from 21 per cent of adults in 2008 to
42 per cent in 2012,” said John Rwangombwa, the Governor of the Central Bank of Rwanda. “When low-income workers or poor families
gain access to basic financial services, they
gain a foothold on the first rung of the ladder
toward prosperity,” Kim said. “Access to
savings accounts, credit or remittances can
help families afford essential services like water, electricity, housing, education and
health care. When firms gain access to financial
services such as credit or insurance, they can
reduce business risks, expand their firms and
create more jobs.” Low cost, accessible
transactions instruments and bank accounts can provide a gateway to this range of financial
services. Setting and then achieving country-led national
targets will open the way toward broadening
financial inclusion, Kim said. Adopting
ambitious financial inclusion commitments can
unleash private-sector innovation and
investment, helping advance the goals of eliminating poverty and building shared
prosperity. Constrained access to finance for small
businesses in many emerging markets hinders
their growth and ability to generate much
needed new jobs. Most of the 2.5 billion adults
who lack accounts at formal financial
institutions often use informal methods to save, borrow and secure their assets. These
undermine efforts to reduce poverty levels
worldwide. Kim emphasized that by energizing
all the parts of the World Bank Group, the
institution is committed to fulfilling its role as
the leading global partner – for both public- sector and private-sector institutions – in
supporting countries as they work toward
these goals. According Castro, while the goal of achieving
universal financial access by 2020 as a way to
accelerate economic progress and reduce
extreme poverty is ambitious, the World Bank
President, Jim Yong Kim, assured that universal
access to financial services is within reach, attributing it to new technologies,
transformative business models and ambitious
reforms. During the meeting and in line with this set
goal, the Central Bank of Nigeria was one of
the 45 signatories of commitments to financial
inclusion worldwide (the Maya Declaration) that
include: Creating an enabling environment to
harness new technology that increases access to and lowers the costs of financial services;
implementing a proportional framework that
advances synergies in financial inclusion,
integrity, and stability; integrating consumer
protection and empowerment as a key pillar of
financial inclusion; and utilising data for informed policymaking and tracking results. In her own press briefing, Dr Mrs Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala said “The World Bank Group,
that is the World Bank and the International
Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector
arm of the World Bank, through the World Bank
president has made it known that they want Nigeria to be one of the focus countries in sub-
Saharan Africa. This means that they are willing
to work with Nigeria to invest hundreds of
millions of dollars. “They have a lending programme of about a
billion dollars a year, but they are willing to use
that and pull in more resources from the U.S.
through the Power Africa Initiative, using the
offices of IFC to help us address infrastructure
problems. Continuing she said, “They want to concentrate
on power, and they are already actively working
with several private companies that want to
work in Nigeria. A break down of the $1.4billion
pledge showed that $700 million dollars is
made up of guarantees from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for
the power sector as well as $700 million dollars
investment pledge in power transmission
sector,” She added that the meeting also focused on
how to improve the bank’s social safety
network programme in Nigeria.
Okonjo-Iweala said that the bank and the
Federal Government would collaborate on a 400
million dollar social safety net programme which would key into the existing programmes
already running in the country. The
programmes, she said, include, saving one
million lives; instant cash transfers, improving
nutrition for children, immunisation, HIV/Aids
and anti-malaria programmes among others. She said the programme under conditional cash
transfer would be used to scale up the project
on cash transfer in education in Kano State to
improve the number of out-of-school children,
especially the girls. According to Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria also got
pledges from the bank to help improve
statistics. The minister reiterated that the 2013
budget was on course describing some
speculations on the budget in the media as
false. “We have spoken to the National Assembly on
the amendments and they have done
something and we have decided to continue
with the implementation. Please, 2013 budget
is being implemented. What is being
perpetrated by some sections of the press, that somehow the 2013 budget has fallen apart
and not implemented, is false. This budget is
being implemented, it still has some issues
here and there, but we’ve decided to go ahead
to find a solution and take care of the missing
money to pay people involved under the SURE- P programme”, she said
Group at the just concluded IMF/World Bank
Group Annual Meetings in Washington DC,
bankers, financial leaders and government
functionaries of member countries set a goal
of achieving universal financial access by 2020 as a way to accelerate economic progress and
reduce extreme poverty. The leaders at the forum included Nigeria’s
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. According to the World Bank spokesman for
Africa, Agustin Castro, the goal is of utmost
importance since 2.5 billion adults worldwide
are ‘un-banked’ and almost 200 million micro
to medium enterprises in developing
economies lack access to affordable financial services and credit. This, he said, the bank
considers as a major obstacle to reducing
poverty levels and create much needed new
jobs. Also, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Okonjo
Iweala, told journalists attending the meeting
at a post annual press briefing that Nigeria has
secured a $1.4billion support facility from the
World Bank to speed up the development of
the power sector and infrastructure in Nigeria. She said “The World Bank has pledged to
support Nigeria’s power sector and
infrastructure development with about $1.4
billion. The World Bank is planning to set up a
global infrastructure facility and Nigeria would
be among the first countries to benefit considering its population and infrastructure
needs.” According to the World Bank Group “More than
50 countries have now made commitments to
financial inclusion targets. “If they fulfill their
commitments, if other countries also set bold
targets, and if the private sector responds by
unleashing its resources and know-how – then we can reach universal access by 2020,” said
Kim. In a dialogue with Her Majesty Queen Máxima
of the Netherlands – who is the United Nations
Secretary General’s Special Advocate for
Inclusive Finance for Development and the
Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership
for Financial Inclusion – Kim noted that financial inclusion can be a powerful
accelerator of economic progress, and can help
achieve the World Bank Group’s goals of
eliminating extreme poverty and building
shared prosperity.
The importance of universal access to financial services was also emphasized by Queen
Máxima who pointed out that every person and
every business in any country deserves that
opportunity. The priority of broadening
financial inclusion to individuals and small
businesses globally was underscored by a panel of government and business leaders. “Beyond ensuring universal financial access, a
challenge which we all face is to ensure that
financial services are available to meet the
range of household and enterprise needs,”
remarked Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance of Nigeria who recently
launched Nigeria’s financial inclusion strategy. “Rwanda has an ambitious vision for financial
inclusion, and I am pleased to say that we have
made significant progress already towards that
target, almost doubling formal financial
inclusion from 21 per cent of adults in 2008 to
42 per cent in 2012,” said John Rwangombwa, the Governor of the Central Bank of Rwanda. “When low-income workers or poor families
gain access to basic financial services, they
gain a foothold on the first rung of the ladder
toward prosperity,” Kim said. “Access to
savings accounts, credit or remittances can
help families afford essential services like water, electricity, housing, education and
health care. When firms gain access to financial
services such as credit or insurance, they can
reduce business risks, expand their firms and
create more jobs.” Low cost, accessible
transactions instruments and bank accounts can provide a gateway to this range of financial
services. Setting and then achieving country-led national
targets will open the way toward broadening
financial inclusion, Kim said. Adopting
ambitious financial inclusion commitments can
unleash private-sector innovation and
investment, helping advance the goals of eliminating poverty and building shared
prosperity. Constrained access to finance for small
businesses in many emerging markets hinders
their growth and ability to generate much
needed new jobs. Most of the 2.5 billion adults
who lack accounts at formal financial
institutions often use informal methods to save, borrow and secure their assets. These
undermine efforts to reduce poverty levels
worldwide. Kim emphasized that by energizing
all the parts of the World Bank Group, the
institution is committed to fulfilling its role as
the leading global partner – for both public- sector and private-sector institutions – in
supporting countries as they work toward
these goals. According Castro, while the goal of achieving
universal financial access by 2020 as a way to
accelerate economic progress and reduce
extreme poverty is ambitious, the World Bank
President, Jim Yong Kim, assured that universal
access to financial services is within reach, attributing it to new technologies,
transformative business models and ambitious
reforms. During the meeting and in line with this set
goal, the Central Bank of Nigeria was one of
the 45 signatories of commitments to financial
inclusion worldwide (the Maya Declaration) that
include: Creating an enabling environment to
harness new technology that increases access to and lowers the costs of financial services;
implementing a proportional framework that
advances synergies in financial inclusion,
integrity, and stability; integrating consumer
protection and empowerment as a key pillar of
financial inclusion; and utilising data for informed policymaking and tracking results. In her own press briefing, Dr Mrs Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala said “The World Bank Group,
that is the World Bank and the International
Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector
arm of the World Bank, through the World Bank
president has made it known that they want Nigeria to be one of the focus countries in sub-
Saharan Africa. This means that they are willing
to work with Nigeria to invest hundreds of
millions of dollars. “They have a lending programme of about a
billion dollars a year, but they are willing to use
that and pull in more resources from the U.S.
through the Power Africa Initiative, using the
offices of IFC to help us address infrastructure
problems. Continuing she said, “They want to concentrate
on power, and they are already actively working
with several private companies that want to
work in Nigeria. A break down of the $1.4billion
pledge showed that $700 million dollars is
made up of guarantees from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for
the power sector as well as $700 million dollars
investment pledge in power transmission
sector,” She added that the meeting also focused on
how to improve the bank’s social safety
network programme in Nigeria.
Okonjo-Iweala said that the bank and the
Federal Government would collaborate on a 400
million dollar social safety net programme which would key into the existing programmes
already running in the country. The
programmes, she said, include, saving one
million lives; instant cash transfers, improving
nutrition for children, immunisation, HIV/Aids
and anti-malaria programmes among others. She said the programme under conditional cash
transfer would be used to scale up the project
on cash transfer in education in Kano State to
improve the number of out-of-school children,
especially the girls. According to Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria also got
pledges from the bank to help improve
statistics. The minister reiterated that the 2013
budget was on course describing some
speculations on the budget in the media as
false. “We have spoken to the National Assembly on
the amendments and they have done
something and we have decided to continue
with the implementation. Please, 2013 budget
is being implemented. What is being
perpetrated by some sections of the press, that somehow the 2013 budget has fallen apart
and not implemented, is false. This budget is
being implemented, it still has some issues
here and there, but we’ve decided to go ahead
to find a solution and take care of the missing
money to pay people involved under the SURE- P programme”, she said
No comments:
Post a Comment