More than 60% of adults in the Kyrgyz Republic do not have access to financial products and services, and many still prefer to keep their money under a mattress. While a quarter of the adult population have savings, only 3% have money saved in financial institutions.

Nor do people have much use for credit. Only 10.2% of adults have borrowed from a financial institution or used a credit card, a number that’s below global averages.

Lack of access to banks and credit keep the poor from escaping poverty because they don’t have the means to invest in a business, education, or even their own health.

Savia Hasanova describes recent developments in financial inclusion and financial literacy in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Read the transcript

https://bit.ly/2A8BRiN

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/financial-inclusion-regulation-literacy-education-kyrgyz-republic

About the author

Savia Hasanova is an economic expert at the Investment Round Table in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Know more about ADBI’s work

https://bit.ly/2FvHnlp

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