Over the past decade, Malawi’s financial landscape has evolved rapidly alongside the increasingly widespread recognition of financial inclusion as a key driver of development and more broadly as a generator of poverty alleviation at the national scale. Accordingly, the Government of Malawi (GoM) has highlighted financial inclusion as an integral component of the Malawi Vision 2063 development plan.
The last FinScope Consumer Survey (“Consumer Survey”) of 2014 in Malawi indicated a 14-point increase from 26% to 40% of the adult population included in formal financial services. A repeat Consumer Survey was necessary to inform updated financial inclusion policy interventions, effectively track progress, and set targets. Given the financial inclusion benchmarks set by Malawi’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, the 2023 Consumer Survey was seen as an opportunity to perform a comparative analysis with the 2014 baseline survey and inform policy makers on progress made towards Malawi’s financial inclusion goals.
Imani Consultants Ltd was contracted to carry out the the 2023 consumer survey. Quantitative data collection was done through an individual level survey using a random sampling approach to determine the current progress and level of financial access in Malawi, identify certain drivers, challenges, barriers, and enable effective monitoring of public and private sector interventions. 3000 households were targeted across 28 districts in Malawi.