The Indian government is set to contribute $2million to the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI), managed by the African Development Bank, to break down barriers to the growth and uptake of digital financial solutions and accelerate financial inclusion in Africa.
The Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility’s collaboration with the Indian government will enable the facility to learn from best practices and help scale up initiatives to meet the needs of financially excluded and underserved people in Africa.
The World Bank revealed that nearly half of Africa’s adult population currently does not benefit from digital financial solutions. This stat is particularly true for women, youth, farmers, small businesses and rural communities.
ADFI aims to make digital financial solutions in Africa more affordable, safe and accessible by breaking down systemic barriers to the growth of digital financial inclusion in general and reducing the gender gap in financial inclusion in particular.
“Learning from India’s digital public infrastructure success story”
Manisha Sinha, additional secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and principal ADFI governing council member for India, discussed the collaboration: “India’s pioneering role in digital financial services, extending financial inclusion to remote rural areas and creating infrastructure for the digitisation of financial services, opens a significant opportunity for India to work within the ADFI partnership to share learning and expertise on digital public infrastructure to further digital financial inclusion across the continent.”
ADFI supports the African Development Bank’s ten-year strategy focus on inclusive growth to improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. Its role also aligns with the Bank’s financial sector development department’s mandate to improve access to finance for the underserved.
ADFI works to scale innovative digital financial solutions under the three broad strategic pillars of infrastructure, policies and regulations and product innovation.
Solomon Quaynor, vice president for the private sector, infrastructure and industrialisation at the African Development Bank, also commented: “We welcome the government of India’s support of the catalytic role ADFI has been playing in accelerating greater access and usage of digital financial solutions and financial inclusion across the continent.
“We look forward to working together to add learning from India’s digital public infrastructure success story within our expanding portfolio of digital financial solutions initiatives to enhance the impact on greater economic empowerment, resilience and growth across Africa.”
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