BPNG strategies to support financial inclusion efforts

By EMMANUEL MAIPE
BANK of Papua New Guinea aims to promote economic growth and poverty alleviation by supporting financial inclusion activities.
The bank, consistent with the government’s Vision 2050 policy on wealth creation and poverty reduction, has identified and made financial inclusion one of the key objectives to pursue in its 2012-15 strategic plan.
It has already devised strategies aimed at promoting economic and poverty reduction through financial inclusion.
Speaking at the microfinance expansion project (MEP) workshop in Port Moresby last Tuesday, bank governor Loi Bakani said these initiatives were also consistent with its objectives as specified under the Central Bank Act (CBA) to promote economic growth in PNG.
Bakani said the G20, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies in the world, recently recognised that the gap between rich and poor had reached a disproportionate level in many countries despite them having rapid economic growth.
He said the Maya Declaration last year stressed the need for financial inclusion and countries to make commitments with achievable targets.
Bakani said every effort should be made to eradicate poverty through creating an enabling environment such as empowerment through financial inclusion and literacy programmes, which would yield sustainable inclusive growth.
He said at the recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting, its board of governors reiterated the need to reduce poverty and create opportunities for inclusive economic growth.
Bakani said many developing countries had adopted national agendas for poverty alleviation through promoting inclusive growth programmes, like financial inclusion, and financial literacy programmes to empower the poor to combat poverty.
He said the bank was involved in some of these activities through its strategic plan, and was also aware of other initiatives such as:

–    The development of microfinance industry through the PNG-ADB microfinance project;
–    Rollout of mobile and electronic banking in PNG; 
–    Financial literacy programmes introduced by some financial institutions; –
–    Microfinance schemes promoted through the government’s informal sector policy;
–    Donor-funded projects such as the financial competency survey and financial diaries project;  and
–    The proposed National Centre for Financial Inclusion (NCFI).