Nearly 85 percent of Afghan adults do not have a bank account, acting governor of the country’s central bank has said.
This is higher than the average for low-income countries, Acting Governor of Da Afghanistan Bank Wahidullah Nosher said.
The limited number of access points, high cost of financial services, and inadequate financial services that do not meet the needs of low-income households explain this low rate of financial in Afghanistan, Nosher said.
Obstacles posed by security concerns, religious and cultural beliefs, lack of trust in the financial sector, and low rates of financial literacy are also considered as major factors behind it, he said.
In Afghanistan, only 7 percent of women own an account, compared with 23 percent for men.
Nosher said that the central bank has a strategy to reduce financial exclusion in Afghanistan by close to 15 percent and improve the overall financial access of all Afghan citizens within the next four years.
Within the next five years, it is expected that the percentage of Afghan adults owning bank accounts will double, Nosher said.
