Youth need to be taught to manage money: Official

By MELYNE BAROI
FINANCIAL literacy and money management skills needs to be emphasised more in schools as approximately 20 per cent of the country’s population are in classrooms either at primary, secondary or tertiary level, an official says.
Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (Cefi) executive director Garima Tongia said this was among the discussion he shared with the media and representatives from the University of Papua New Guinea Banking and Finance Students Association who went to present a token of appreciation to Cefi.
Tongia said with financial literacy and money management skills, young people could face tomorrow with a sense of certainty and sustain themselves in both the formal and informal sector.
“With 60 per cent of PNG’s population under the age of 25, and with limited job opportunities in the real world, we are sitting on a time bomb if we do not equip our younger generation with essential like skills about money management such as savings and budgeting.”
Tongia said Cefi’s relationship with the UPNG Banking and Finance Students Association during their annual networking event iwas mutually beneficial.
He said Cefi was mandated by the Government through the National Financial Inclusion Policy 2019, the Financial Sector Development Strategy 2018-2030, the Medium-Term Development Plan and other sectoral policy objectives to coordinate financial inclusion activities in PNG in collaboration with our stakeholder partners.
UPNG Banking and Finance Students Association president Natasha Kama said that with the trophy presented to Cefi they looked forward to working with them again in the future.