Promoting financial inclusion in Tunisia

Context

Many people in Tunisia have inadequate access to financial services, including money transfers, loans and insurance. As a result, people in rural and urban areas in particular have limited socio-economical opportunities for inclusion in society, with women more harder hit than men.

It is therefore important to promote access to, and use of, formal and in particular digital financial services. Such services should, for example, facilitate the receipt of the growing remittances from the Tunisian diaspora digitally on a mobile wallet.

Objective

The range of financial services available to the Tunisian population has improved and is designed to meet their needs.

Approach

The project works with key government actors, among them the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Tunisia, the Tunisian Financial Services Observatory, and the Microfinance Supervisory Authority (ACM).

It focuses on four key fields of action:

• It builds capacity for coordination and information structures, thereby promoting access to formal financial services in rural and peri-urban areas.
• It improves financial services, taking into account the needs of target groups, and supports dialogue between public-sector regulators and the private sector.
• It raises awareness and increases the financial literacy of target groups together with civil society organisations active in the field of financial education.
• It guides and supports public-sector actors in developing a roadmap to better use formal channels for remittances. At the same time, the project encourages the Tunisian diaspora to use formal remittance channels.

Last update: September 2023