Of the 154 districts in Mozambique, 25 still had no bank branches by the end of 2023. According to a report by the Bank of Mozambique (BdM) on financial inclusion, the country’s coverage with bank branches went from 123 districts at the end of 2022 to 129 last year, covering 83.2 per cent of the territory.
According to the document, the coverage ratio tends to fall, from 9.3 branches per 10,000 square kilometres in 2022 to 9.1 in 2023, clarifying that in rural areas this ratio is even lower, with only 3.2 bank branches.
“In the period under review, it was found that out of every 100 Mozambican adults, only 31 have a bank account, which is a slight increase on the 30 recorded last year. The number of bank cards issued totalled 19.1,” he said.
Automatic teller machines (ATMs) grew slightly to a ratio of 12.9 available per 100,000 adults, while automatic payment terminals (TPA/POS) fell from 224.4 to 190.8.
Data from the central bank shows that 15 commercial banks and 12 microbanks operate in Mozambique, as well as credit cooperatives and savings and credit organisations, among others.
