by Theckla Gunga – EM TV News, Port Moresby
The Bank of Papua New Guinea is moving into providing digital financial services in Papua New Guinea in its drive to decrease the high rate of financial illiteracy.
BPNG Governor, Loi Bakani, in a discussion this morning said the central bank will focus more on improving the access to the financial products for people living in unbanked areas in the county.
Bakani said because many banking facilities are located only in provincial towns, it limits people from remote areas to access these services.
“BPNG, through its financial education program, is now looking at avenues to bring these services into unbanked areas, “ Bakani said.
The discussion this morning between BPNG, local financial institutions and international facilitators of financial education in the Pacific, suggests that more banking services should be established in remote areas.
This would increase access to financial products for people living in remote areas and decrease the high rate of financial illiteracy in the Pacific.
In Papua New Guinea, at least 8 out of every 10 people do not have basic financial knowledge on savings or how to access finically products like personnel loans or opening a bank account.
In 2013, BPNG started educating selected people on the basic financial education.
Today, the training conducted under the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion or CEFI has trained over 8000 people in the Highlands Region.
The discussion today, sets a new platform for financial education in PNG.
That platform is to identify areas for improvement in teacher financial skills and assess the current Digital Financial Services in PNG.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=9nkHvR035o0%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
