(Business in Cameroon) - Despite recent progress in terms of financial inclusion, particularly with the introduction of Mobile Money service by mobile operators, Cameroon still has a long way to go in this area. According to the Global Microscope 2018, goals can only be achieved if the country overcomes a number of hurdles.
“The government has not taken any action to implement its financial inclusion strategy, and there is a low level of digitization in government payments. Financial regulation in Cameroon restricts the issuance of electronic money to banks. As a result, telecom operators must offer financial services only in association with banks,” the report points out.
Key barriers to financial inclusion, according to the document, include the ban on telecom operators offering remittance services to countries outside the CEMAC region; the “relatively high tax rate” applied to e-money transfer, insofar as “Money transfer is still considered a postal service in Cameroon, instead of a simple financial transaction,” the report said.
BRM