Mobile banking in Uganda
Background
In many areas, countries on the African continent are “leapfrogging” countries
elsewhere when it comes to technology. For example, few African homes have fixed
landline telephones, but many have mobile phones – compare that to the UK or US,
where most households had a landline well before they had a mobile phone. There is
even talk of a “drone superhighway”, a world first, being built in Rwanda! This
leapfrogging approach is really sensible and efficient for developing countries –
building infrastructure is expensive, incurring large opportunity costs, and it will be
cheaper to jump straight into the newest technologies and infrastructures.
The data below shows selected banking and financial information for the world as a
whole, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Uganda – the data is for people aged 15 and over.
Indicator
World
% adults with any account
% young adults (15 – 24) with any account
% with a mobile account
% with a debit card
% using an account to receive wages
% using an account to receive gov’t transfers
% using the internet to pay bills
% saving in a bank in last year
% that saved any money
% saving for old age / retirement
% saving for a farm or business
% saving for education or school fees
% borrowing from a bank in past year
% borrowing from family or friends
% with a mortgage
61.5
46.3
2.0
40.1
17.7
8.2
16.6
27.4
56.5
23.9
13.8
22.3
10.7
26.2
10.4
Sub-Saharan
Africa
34.2
25.9
11.5
17.9
7.3
3.8
2.4
15.9
59.6
9.8
22.7
22.9
6.3
41.9
5.2
Uganda
44.4
35.0
35.1
17.8
6.4
1.0
1.7
16.8
75.2
9.5
34.3
41.8
15.7
69.4
9.8
Source: World Bank, Global Findex Data – Little Data Book on Financial Inclusion 2014
Task
You should read the information above, and carefully analysis the statistics. You may
also want to carry out your own research into regular and mobile banking in Uganda.
Then write a one-page journalistic-style article assessing the state of the Ugandan
banking industry, and the implications for economic growth and development in
Uganda.