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Publish Date : 07-Oct-2014

Mauritius has the highest level of financial inclusion in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with 90 percent of adults aged 18 years and above having access to financial services, according to the FinScope Consumer Mauritius 2014 survey. The findings of the survey were released on October 3rd by the company conducting the survey that is, FinMark Trust in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and other key stakeholders, at the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, Caudan, Port Louis.

The survey which covers both Mauritius and Rodrigues, reveals that the level of financial inclusion is high in Mauritius, with only 10% of adults who are financially excluded that is not using any formal or informal financial product or service to manage their financial lives. In total, it states that 85% of the adult population is banked, 49% use non-bank products and services and 26% use informal mechanisms to manage their finances while 1.2% make use of bank accounts that are not registered on their names. According to the survey which has been conducted on some 4000 samples, the level of financial inclusion is higher among males which stand at 94% as compared to 86% for females. Of the 10% who are unbanked, the study finds that the main barriers were insufficient money coming in coupled with insufficient balance after paying for expenses.

With regards to the high incidence of savings, the findings showed that 65% of adults are saving at the bank while 30% do not save. Those who are in the saving chain also consist of a further 4% who have formal non-banking savings mechanisms, a further 2% who rely on informal saving mechanisms such as savings groups while 3% are saving at home only. As for credit and borrowing the result shows that in the 12 months preceding the survey, about half (52%) of adults in Mauritius claimed to have either borrowed money or taken goods on credit. 27% of adults borrowed money from a bank, a further 7% have formal non-bank credit, 9% used informal mechanisms such as money lenders, while 9% use friends and family only.

The survey also points out that the use of remittances in Mauritius is low, with only 6% of adults sending or receiving money. It further states that 2% of adults in Mauritius either send or receive money to or from people within Mauritius and 4% of adults send or receive money to or from people living outside the country. Regarding mobile money, the survey shows that though about 84% adult Mauritian use mobile phones only 2% are registered users of mobile money which it attributes mostly to lack of information on mobile money. As for insurance driven by motor vehicle and life insurance, it reveals that 75% adults perceive insurance as a protection in case of problems and 62% do not have any kind of financial product covering risk.

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