Around 1.7 billion people globally have no access to financial sector

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Around 1.7 billion people in the world have yet to access to the financial sector, prompting Indonesia to make this one of the priority agendas of the country’s G20 presidency by promoting economic and financial inclusions.

In developing countries, about 67 percent of their population do not have access to the financial sector, even in developed countries this figure reaches 94 percent, dominated by women and young groups, Governor of Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), Perry Warjiyo, said in an official statement received here on Thursday (Dec. 23).

Promoting economic and financial inclusions, especially for groups of people who have not been served well, aims to boost the national productivity, capacity, and access to finances.

According to Perry, there are three actions that should be carried out to achieve economic and financial inclusions, namely digitizing financial services; diversifying financial service products through digitalization which is not limited to credit; and increasing the capacity of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), women, and millennials.

“Many developing countries, including Indonesia, are making efforts such as the national movement to use domestic products which also boosts MSMEs. We will take this case as an output of how we boost digitalization, implement national policies, improve financial product services, and implement business models to promote economic and financial inclusion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said that Indonesia as a developing country, the largest ASEAN country, as well as a country with a relatively stable economy and cultural political system, will support the formation of various policies that have global influence during its G20 presidency.

“The central banks and the ministers of finance will meet and discuss how each country design its economic policies to recover. Thus, if the global economy recovers, it will have a propagation effect to many countries,” Sri Mulyani said.

She noted that exports have an impact on global recovery, so that if the global economy grows high, Indonesia’s exports would also increase.

The implication of that is the growth of state revenue is increasingly significant, as currently with tax revenues growing by more than 18 percent, customs revenues mounting by more than 24 percent, and non-tax state revenues rising by more than 23 percent.

Reporting by Indonesia