Maputo, Aug. 6, 2025 (Lusa) - The adult Mozambican population with accounts at Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) has grown from 28.6% of the total to 109.8% in the last ten years, contrasting with the fact that 26 regions have no bank branches, according to the Government.
"Digital electronic money has proven to be the driving force behind financial inclusion in Mozambique. In this context, the country now has 100% of its adult population holding an electronic money account, with the number of adults with accounts at Electronic Money Institutions increasing from 28.6% in 2015 to 109.8% in the first quarter of 2025," said Minister of Finance Carla Loveira on Wednesday.
The minister was speaking in Maputo during the launch of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025-2031, in which she praised the contribution of digital wallets to financial inclusion. Mozambique currently has three electronic money institutions, from the three mobile telecommunications operators, which provide financial services via mobile phones, including money transfers between customers and payment for services.
According to a statistical report from the Bank of Mozambique, the number of bank accounts in the country grew from 5,687,975 at the end of 2023 to 6,221,640 in December last year, but this has not kept pace with the increase in EMIs, which grew by 18.5% in the same period to 19,870,700, almost three million new accounts in the space of a year.
Today, when taking stock of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2016-2022, the minister said that at least 128 regions, out of a total of 154, already have a bank branch, an increase of 68% from 2015 to the first six months of this year.
“With regard to the percentage of bank accounts held by the adult population, there has been modest progress, rising from 31.1% in 2015 to around 32.3% in the first quarter of 2025. This growth fell well short of the target set in the last strategy, which was to reach 60%,” said the minister of finance.
The data provided by the minister indicate that between 2015 and the first half of 2025, financial savings, measured by the ratio of deposits to Gross Domestic Product, improved slightly, from 47.6% to 48.8%, contrary to the financial intermediation ratio, which saw a "significant reduction" in the same period.
"This ratio fell by 19.3 percentage points, from 36.4% in 2015 to 17.1% in the first quarter of 2025. This dynamic illustrates the challenge facing banks to improve their contribution to financing the economy and their impact on boosting investment and growth in our economy, despite the economic shocks observed," noted Carla Loveira.
The new National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025-2031, based on four pillars, aims to expand access to financial products by increasing access points and digital financial services, including the promotion of digital payments, improving access to credit, creating a favourable investment climate, and expanding insurance and green financing.
In the new strategy, the Government will move forward with promoting financial literacy by training Mozambicans, especially in rural areas, and strengthening knowledge about consumer rights. The new strategy aims to ensure that by 2031 at least 60% of the adult population has a bank account in a formal institution and 30% of this group has a loan from a financial institution, with the Government taking on the challenges of consolidating macroeconomic stability based on low inflation and exchange rate and fiscal stability.
At the launch of the strategy, the following were identified as long-term challenges for the economy: mitigating the risk associated with financing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent 98.1% of all active companies in the country; and addressing the high costs of financial services, which continue to be a "real barrier to low-income families and small businesses in accessing the financial sector" and to include the informal sector in the financial system.
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