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Concluding a conference organized by the Banque des États de l’Afrique Centrale (BEAC) and the IMF, policymakers stressed the need for Central African countries to promote financial inclusion in order to achieve more inclusive growth.

The event, held on March 23, 2015, brought together more than 200 participants from ten Central African countries, from central and commercial banks, finance ministries, microfinance institutions, universities, and civil society. Participants heard from decision-makers and practitioners—from countries including Cameroon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda—who recounted their efforts to increase financial inclusion in their countries.

Access to finance is still relatively low in sub-Saharan Africa, with around 85 percent of the population excluded from the formal financial system. Speaking during the opening session of the joint conference, Gilbert Ondongo, the Congolese State Minister in charge of economy, finance, planning, public portfolio and integration, acknowledged that financial inclusion in Central Africa is lagging the rest of sub-Saharan Africa and comparable countries in other regions. Access to credit in the region is weak and concentrated in a few sectors and among a few large companies.

According to a recently published IMF paper, only 9 percent of Congo’s adult population holds a formal bank account—below the average for countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community. “Three main causes have been identified—specifically, the low level of national income and real GDP per capita; underdevelopment of financial services; and constraints on access to banking services,” explained Finance Minister Ondongo.

“The lack of financial inclusion limits the participation of large segments of the population in economic activity and restricts the access of small and medium-size businesses to the credit needed for their development,” said Anne Marie Gulde-Wolf, Deputy Director of the IMF’s African Department. “Because of this handicap, those groups and businesses are confined to the informal sector, with all the disadvantages that entails.”

Where saving starts

Participants unanimously agreed that access to financial services can play a decisive role in reducing inequality and...