The situation, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Commissioner for Finance Sector, Dr Charles Mwamwaja is due to limited financial literacy among the public.
Addressing a press conference here yesterday ahead of the National Financial Services Week (NFSW) to be held at Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium in Arusha, from November 20 to 26, 2023, he said the situation is worrying and the government has put strategies for public education.
The commissioner noted that the week-long event is one of the approaches used by the government to provide public education. “In every 10m/- in circulation in the country, 60 percent is not in the formal financial service” he said.
The NFSW is one of the planned events in the implementation of the Financial Sector Development Master Plan 2020/21 – 2029/30.
“Public education is one of the priority areas in the implementation of the Plan. In the implementation phase, the Ministry of Finance has prepared the Financial Education Program for 2021/22-2025/26” said the commissioner.
This program has set strategies including various events and methods that will be used in the provision of financial education to the public.
In the implementation of the Financial Education Program, the government plans that by the year 2025 approximately 80 percent of the general public will have gained an understanding of basic financial issues.
According to FinScope's Survey 2023, only 53.8 percent of the workforce use formal financial services, leaving a large group of Tanzanian population not benefiting from those services and thus lack opportunities to improve their lives through various economic activities to enable them to contribute to the growth of the GDP and the economy at large.
He said some of the objectives of the weeklong event include creating awareness and professionalism to the public on the right use of financial services to assist in building the economy and eliminating poverty and increasing access to financial services.
It is also to help strengthen the efficiency of financial markets through financial education, provide education on consumer protection for the users of financial services and enable the general public to properly manage their financial resources.
Others include enabling small entrepreneurs to increase their knowledge and the right use of financial services in developing their businesses, improving the culture of saving, borrowing and paying debts and increasing the contribution of the financial sector to economic growth of the country.
The financial services week, according to the Commissioner, aims to reach various stakeholders including public servants, students, teachers and lecturers.
Others are women, youth, people with special needs, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), civil society, media, editors and writers, financial service providers, children and the general public.
Various stakeholders, both local and foreign are expected to participate and are invited to take part at this event.
The rest are professional boards, trade unions, media, educational and research institutions, development partners, financial sector associations, financial service provider groups and religious institutions that provide such services, and others.
The week is expected to have positive results for individuals, households, communities and the general public as a whole as an increased level of financial education and knowledge about the availability and use of products and formal financial services.
It is also expected to improve understanding and use of financial markets, financial services moved closer to the people and encourage use of those services as well as obtaining opinions and advice to improve the services.
Mwamaja said it is connecting entrepreneurs with various opportunities provided by the financial sector in developing and strengthening their businesses, increasing knowledge gained and understanding by the general public on financial matters and thus facilitating building a culture of using formal financial services.
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