Gates Foundation encourages financial inclusion

CAIRO – 17 September 2017: Achieving financial inclusion in Egypt will support women’s economic empowerment, attract foreign investors and technological innovators and reach poor segments in the society, senior advisor at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Christopher Calabia said Sunday.

In a meeting with Minister of Investment Sahar Nasr, Calabia said that the global initiative, launched by the World Bank Group, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the foundation, will cause a radical change in Egypt’s program for financial inclusion.

Nasr explained that Egypt is working on the economic empowerment of Egypt, providing an appropriate climate for the private sector, supporting non-banking micro finance and achieving economic growth.

In July, the World Bank Group has chosen Egypt, China and Mexico to be their operational countries in its Financial Inclusion Global Initiative.

The WBG said previously that Egypt has the needed laws, regulations and financial and ICT infrastructure to reach this target, but it lacks financial resources to implement required reforms.

The participating countries were selected based on the potential of country programs, level of commitment by the government and private-sector for financial inclusion, the WBG said.

China, Egypt and Mexico are already part of the Universal Financial Access 2020 (UFA2020) initiative, led by the World Bank Group, targeting to bring two billion unbanked adults in 25 countries into formal financial systems.