Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has argued that digitalization could help to scale up “financial inclusion.” During a keynote, Georgieva stated that digitalization worked well in this sense and called for an extension of initiatives to promote financial inclusion.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva Calls to Digitalize Economies

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has referred to digitalization and its relation to “financial inclusion.” During a keynote at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the IMF in Marrakesh, Georgieva called for extending these digitalization initiatives, stating they were “clearly working out” in reaching more people.

Georgieva stated:

Digitalization is the most important way in which we can rapidly scale up financial inclusion and we saw that during COVID. We now see that many more of these digitally empowered schemes are in place.

She praised the properties of digital innovations, explaining that these were already ubiquitous in today’s economy. She declared:

Everywhere I look it is digital that moves help to people, moves investment, and on that basis moves the ability of the economy to accelerate. We know that digital brings the cost of transacting down.

Georgieva emphasized that the world we live in today is very different than the world in which she lived, with speed and interconnectivity being factors marking today’s economy. She stressed that now “everything moves much more rapidly,” calling to make speed a source of strength.

Factors to Accelerate Financial Inclusion and Digitalization

Georgieva defined four factors to spread digitalization and financial inclusion.

The first is the definition of comprehensive global strategies by governments to lead initiatives directed at increasing financial inclusion. Georgieva stated that the Moroccan strategy for financial inclusion allowed the country to increase the number of citizens with access to a bank account from 30% to 50% in five years.

The second factor has to do with prioritizing financial integrity and stability. Georgieva reinforced the need to establish regulatory oversight and supervisory frameworks to control the risks created by an increased financial inclusion level.

The third factor is promoting financial and digital innovations that allow financial instruments to reach more people, and the fourth factor is related to getting more accurate financial data to measure the result of the applied financial strategies.

What do you think about Georgieva’s thoughts on digitalization and how it can help improve financial inclusion? Tell us in the comments section below.