4th financial inclusion survey to commence
Namibia’s Statistics Agency (NSA) and the central Bank, in collaboration with FinMark Trust of South Africa, will conduct the 4th Namibia Financial Inclusion survey (NFIS), to collect information on financial needs, access to financial service preferences and financial behaviours of the people of Namibia.
The agency’s Statistician General, Alex Shimuafeni on Thursday said the survey will be conducted to show how equal and accessible financial services and products are to all members of the society including the vulnerable members such as women, youth and low income groups at an affordable cost.
The survey, according to him will be divided into two phases: 1st Phase: Pilot Survey will be conducted from 14 to 19 August only in the Kavango West and Khomas regions, while the 2nd Phase: the main survey will be conducted from the 2 October to 13 November in all 14 regions in selected households.
Shimuafeni said that the survey will not cover all households in Namibia and it will be conducted only on the selected households in a random sample that will be aided by the use of Geographic Information System (GIS).
“The survey will be conducted through face-to-face interviews that will be administered by NSA staff,” he added.
Shimuafeni said the findings of the survey will be used to effectively evaluate and monitor the progress made specifically with regard to financial inclusion and most importantly it will provide up-to-date data on access to and usage of financial services and products.
The 2017 round of the NFIS will be the 4th of such a survey to be conducted in Namibia and the first to be conducted by the NSA.
