According to a report of the Economist magazine’s intelligence unit, the Global Microscope 2015, the financial inclusion ranking of the country has been elevated to number five in the global index on financial inclusion, two points up from its level in 2014. The report attributes the two point improvement to the top level commitment, consistency, and major financial inclusion initiatives implemented by the country’s central bank during the year. The report particularly mentions financial inclusion progress to the well documented and articulated national financial inclusion strategy, policy on easy accounts, and passage of the Credit Bureau Act as well as membership of the global better than cash alliance, and financial literacy initiatives. The report says that the country is facing challenges of national financial inclusion strategy in the implementation stage, including the constrained supply of credit to under-served markets, deficiency in land titling and registration, the absence of a secured transaction framework and electronic collateral registry for movable assets, and lack of capacity in both financial institutions and clients.
Whereas the report points out the challenges of the national financial inclusion strategy, it also emphasizes on the capacity building of the officials working in financial institutions. In the absence of a strict check and balance of the senior cadre, policies are hardly worked out and important decisions are always marked by delays and inefficiency. Instead of taking a proactive approach, the senior cadre always relies on the lower staff which has its own limits and capacities. According to the intelligence unit’s report, the challenges are already prioritized in the national financial inclusion strategy and momentum will be built to push forward reforms to achieve universal financial inclusion in an integrated and sustained manner. The Global Microscope Report 2015 also assesses the regulatory environment in 55 countries for financial inclusion across 12 indicators and based its rankings of country on the progress and commitment to financial inclusion, regulatory and supervisory environment, market infrastructure and financial stability etc.
The Microscope 2015 is directed towards practitioners, policymakers, investors and all other stakeholders in the area of financial inclusion to help drive financial inclusion through their respective roles. It is important to note that the world is going at the fast rate and reports from the world financial agencies and magazine point out economy of a country in global perspective. It is hoped that the policymakers in Pakistan as well as businessmen and all other stakeholders will keep abreast of the changes in the world economic scenario.
