New survey says only 15% Pakistanis avail Digital Financial Services

According to a new survey, only 15% Pakistanis avail Digital Financial Services (DFS) and there has been no significant increase in the user base or registrations between 2013 and 2014. These numbers are from the Financial Inclusion Insights (FII) survey report, conducted and launched by Karandaaz Pakistan and Inter Media. The FII survey was also conducted in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria.

The report is a result of over 6,000 interviews carried out with citizen aged 15+ in 2014. The report also aims to provide insights into support product and service development and delivery. The report not only shows alarmingly low numbers than our neighbouring countries, it also highlights the fact that only a small population knows about mobile money and even lesser people know about the services accessible via mobile money.

According to the report, 53% of the DFS users were men and 47% women; 33% lived in urban areas while 67% lived in rural areas. 49% percent of the users belonged to the population living above the poverty line while 51% lived below the poverty line earning less than $2.50 a day. The report also noted that Mobile Money (MM) users had better mobile phones. It was also highlighted that only 29% of women-owned mobile phones compared to 77% men.

The report revealed that only 14% adults had access to DFS, including seven percent with registered digital stored-value accounts and 4% with digital financial accounts. Majority of Pakistanis have little or no money left over each month to save or prepare for financial shocks. 76% percent adults had debts that exceeded their savings; 53% were unable to earn more than their monthly expenditure; 84% were without money after paying all their expenses and 63% did not have any emergency fund to cover unplanned expenses.

The whole point of this report was to identify the need for timely demand-side data and practical insight into DFS including mobile money.

– Source Express Tribune