Report Shows About 22% of Jamaicans are Unbanked

Original Article Posted Here: https://nationwideradiojm.com/report-shows-about-22-of-jamaicans-are-unbanked/

Posted by Chevon Campbell | 5 Feb, 2024

Approximately 22% of Jamaicans remain unbanked.

That’s according to the latest National Financial Inclusion Report published by the Bank of Jamaica.

Chevon Campbell tells us more.

The report was prepared by Hope Caribbean Company Limited which conducted the survey for the Bank of Jamaica.

It utilised a nationally representative sample of just over 1,000 adults across all 14 parishes, using electoral divisions.

Four hundred and twenty Micro and Small Merchants were also sampled.

The survey has a confidence level of 95 per cent.

It found that 71% of Jamaicans have access to some form of bank account or are otherwise banked.

An additional 6% have partial access or are considered underbanked.

The remaining 23% are unbanked, meaning they do not use the services of any banking institution.

The report says 71% of women and 70% of men are banked.

Those aged 30 to 39 make up the group with the strongest financial inclusion at 81.6%.

The age group sixty years and over has the lowest inclusion of just under 60%.

Upper-income Jamaicans are universally banked at 95%, this is followed by those in the middle-income bracket at 92%.

However, only 60% of Jamaicans in the lower income bracket are banked.

Ninety one percent of respondents did their banking through a commercial bank.