Mozambique Snapshot:

• Year MAP began: 2014
• Adult population: 4.6m
• % adults use at least one regulated financial service: 24%
• % adults use only unregulated financial services: 16%
• % adults excluded: 60%

Mozambique is a country on the move. Since emerging from its long civil war in the 1990s, the country has liberalized its economy, initiated the construction of new infrastructure on a vast scale and instituted extensive public reform. The financial sector, in particular, has seen far reaching changes. Not only were several state-owned financial institutions privatized, but many new financial institutions have emerged. The economy responded with strong growth, averaging 7.5% in real terms between 2005 and 2014. However, rates of financial exclusion remain high and the urban/rural divide that so limits the expansion of formal financial services in Mozambique seems to have grown starker.

Based on the needs of the various target markets in Mozambique and the general market constraints, the following five priority areas were identified during the MAP diagnostic process:

1. Facilitate interoperability in the retail payment system
2. Allow banks to price for cash
3. Improve liquidity of formal providers
4. Reduce client barriers seated in regulation
5. Create sound regulatory frameworks for important product categories such as mobile money, cross-border remittances, and microinsurance.