The financial inclusion rate in UEMOA rose from 55.5% in 2018 to 60.1% in 2019, according to the latest BCEAO report. Comparing countries, Côte d'Ivoire has the highest inclusion rate with 77.9%, followed by Benin (77.8%) and Togo (72.3%)

In 2019, the financial inclusion rate or global rate of use of financial services (TGUSF) reached 60.1% within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). This is what the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) announced in its 2019 report on financial inclusion in the region

This rate increased by 4.5 percentage points compared to 2018, which had a financial inclusion rate of 55.5% according to the new report. The document states that this situation is explained by a strengthening of the contribution of electronic money to the use of financial services in the region. The rate of use of electronic money services thus increased by 5.4 percentage points to 39.6% in 2019

By country, Côte d'Ivoire now has the highest financial inclusion rate (77.9%). It thus surpasses Benin (77.8%), champion in 2018, which is followed by Togo (72.3%), Burkina Faso (70.9%) and Senegal (70.0%). Niger, for its part, has a financial inclusion rate of 17.5%, one of the lowest in the sub-region despite an increase compared to 2018

In terms of progress, Guinea-Bissau (+19.0 percentage points) is in the lead, followed by Côte d'Ivoire (+10.8 percentage points), Mali (+4.5 percentage points) and Benin (+3.4 percentage points).

It should be noted that in terms of banking, Togo posted the best performances in the union, both last year and in 2018. The strict banking rate (TBS), which measures the percentage of the adult population with an account in banks, postal services, national savings banks and the treasury, reached 25.1% in the country, putting it ahead of Benin (24.8%), Burkina (23.2%) and Guinea-Bissau (20.3%) for a regional average of

As for the expanded banking rate (which includes TBS, plus users of microfinance services), it was 78.5% in Togo, the highest rate ahead of Benin (72.2%), Senegal (52.0%) and Burkina Faso (43.4%), for a regional average of 39.7%.

Note that some rates have been refined to take into account the phenomenon of multibanking in the region, which is manifested by the holding by the same person of several accounts in one or more financial institutions.