Harker, Christopher; Hinn, Habib; Rafeedie, Anmar; (2023) Gender Roadmap to Enhance Financial Inclusion. MAS – Political Economic Policy Research Institute: Ramallah, Palestine.

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Abstract

The Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) and the Palestinian Capital Market Authority (PCMA) have been working with determination to enhance financial inclusion in Palestine, as part of clear strategies and goals and with the broad participation of relevant actors. In recent years, these efforts have been translated into an ambitious national project based on a comprehensive survey (the 2016 Financial Inclusion Survey), giving rise to the development of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2018-2025. Accordingly, in 2022, a comprehensive re-assessment of financial inclusion was carried out in order to measure developments since 2016 and the progress made in the implementation of the National Strategy of Financial Inclusion, as well as to determine the reasons, obstacles, and gaps preventing the attainment of higher levels of financial inclusion. It is hoped that the re-assessment will contribute to supporting the PMA and PCMA’s endeavors to develop and update the strategic action plan. This study provides a comprehensive diagnosis of the case and development of financial inclusion in Palestine on the demand and supply side as well as on the ecosystem side, including a comprehensive and an in-depth analysis of marginalized groups that suffer from low proportions of financial inclusion. It examines the extent to which the formal financial sector is capable and willing to provide services to financially excluded groups, and it makes urgent recommendations and suggests necessary interventions to promote financial inclusion and achieve the goals of the National Strategy of Financial Inclusion within a specific timeframe. It covers the formal Palestinian financial sector, both banking and non-banking, and presents some indicators of the proliferation of the informal financial sector. In addition to the main diagnostic study, two separate technical studies were prepared. The first addressed the analysis of digital financial inclusion in Palestine, which was aimed at understanding the extent to which Palestinian individual citizens were willing to adopt digital financial services as a means of promoting financial inclusion. It also assesses the extent to which financial institutions were willing in terms of supply to provide digital financial services that could facilitate access to the financially underserved segments of individuals. The second study tackles the reality of financial inclusion from the perspective of gender in Palestine. It offers a comprehensive and detailed analysis of gendered financial inclusion, focusing on how it is shaped by the many systemic, cultural and social barriers and proposing a set of policy interventions in order to accelerate the transformation in the gendered financial sector. We, at PMA and PCMA, are pleased to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Financial Inclusion Assessment Project Management Unit for their efforts to prepare this informative and comprehensive study, as well as to all relevant actors from the private sector, the government, the civil society organizations (CSOs), and partner international institutions that supported the National Strategy of Financial Inclusion Building Project, particularly Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI).

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