Steering Committee for the Establishment of the National Strategy on Financial Inclusion Holds its Second Meeting

The Steering Committee for the Establishment of the National Strategy on Financial Inclusion in Palestine held its second meeting to address the set of the issues pending discussion on its meeting agenda. Most importantly, the Committee discussed approving the commencement of survey activities to study the supply and demand sides to measure financial inclusion in Palestine. The meeting was jointly chaired by Dr Jihad Al-Wazir, Governor of the PMA, and Dr Mohammad Nasr, Chairman of the Board of the Palestine Capital Market Authority (PCMA). Attending were the majority of Committee members, which is formed of the PMA, the PCMA, the Association of Banks in Palestine, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Banking Services Consumer Society, the Palestinian Network for Small and MicroFinance Sharakeh, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA, Palestine Exchange, the Palestine Union of Securities Trading Companies and the Palestinian Insurance Federation. 

Dr Al-Wazir welcomed the attendees, commending them for the role they play and the efforts they make. He briefed the committee members on the latest achievements made by the PMA over the previous year until the current date. He pointed to the near termination of his term as Governor of the PMA, saying that it is evident through the results of key indicators of financial inclusion that the PMA has indeed succeeded in promoting financial inclusion. Such indicators include the growth rate of bank branches which reached 70.6 percent since 2007 and the loan to deposit ratio which rose to 57.3 percent by end of the second quarter of 2015 compared to 33.3 percent in 2007. Likewise, the number of borrowers from specialized lending institutions grew by 14.5 percent since 2009,  a result of connecting these institutions to the credit information system.

Dr Al-Wazir asserted that the PMA will maintain its cooperation with the PCMA and all institutions involved to lay the firm foundations for the concept of financial inclusion and serve the general public benefit of achieving sustainable growth of the national economy.

In his speech, Dr Nasr said that the PCMA is keen to implement the strategy in effective partnership and coordination with the PMA, which would also save both efforts and costs. He stressed the importance of building capacities required to implement the strategy as well as the importance of financial awareness-raising among the various segments of the society so that they can better employ financial services to improve and develop their financing sources and expand their resources. Dr Nasr also pointed to the progress achieved across the various economic sectors that fall under PCMA supervision.

Mr Ali Faroun, from the PMA, and Mr Bashar Abu Zarour, from the PCMA, presented an overview to Committee members of the progress and the latest developments with regard to the establishment of the national strategy project, expected to be concluded during the first quarter of the year 2016.

At the end of the meeting, the Committee approved several decisions; most importantly the decision to contract the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute - MAS to prepare a research paper on the level of financial inclusion in Palestine and to draft relevant recommendations to the Committee based upon its findings.

It is worth mentioning that the Steering Committee for the Establishment of the National Strategy on Financial Inclusion was founded in the beginning of the year 2014. Its goal is to supervise and steer all parties involved in the formulation of the national strategy aiming at the promotion of access to and use of the financial services and products by people from different social strata in a fair and transparent manner and at affordable prices. The strategy is being implemented with the financial support of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) which has its headquarters in Malaysia.