Bank

In Papua New Guinea Financial Inclusion is fast becoming an important development challenge as its economy transforms itself from a largely agrarian subsistence based economy to a more monetised modern economy. The Bank of Papua New Guinea through the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) has been at the forefront of an effort to bridge the divide between the “banked and the unbanked” population of PNG, said to be about 70-80% of the total population. Aided by reforms and innovation, the financial inclusion story of PNG has been a remarkable one. However, for financial inclusion to make a lasting impact on the lives of Papua New Guineans, the government needs to come in and support its expansion into the provinces and districts where the bulk of Papua New Guineans 9 million plus population resides. In this piece we take a look at the efforts that is currently underway in PNG to aid this cause.