Mozambique: Northern Mozambique Still Faces Poor Financial Service Coverage

20 July 2026
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
By Alberto Massango

Maputo — The Bank of Mozambique, in its role as regulator of the national financial system, has revealed that the country's northern provinces (Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa) still face poor financial service coverage.

In its 2025 Financial Inclusion Report, the Central Bank also includes the central province of Zambezia as one of the regions with poor financial service coverage. However, the expansion of digital services has increased the number of Mozambicans with access to the financial system, although the benefits remain unevenly distributed across provinces and between men and women.

"Despite the progress achieved, structural challenges that hinder more comprehensive and balanced financial inclusion persist. These inequalities are characterized by limitations in financial and digital literacy, as well as difficulties regarding consumer protection, underscoring the need for more targeted interventions.

The note points out that the southern Maputo city and Province have the highest levels of financial services coverage. "Although the number of access points grew by 36 per cent between 2024 and 2025, driven by e-money operators, credit to the economy fell to 19 per cent of Gross Domestic Product", reads the report.

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According to the document, there are significant disparities in the distribution of access points by province, in both demographic and geographical terms, which affect economic development and the penetration of financial services.

In order to reserve the situation, the Central Bank believes that the country must step up financial and digital literacy initiatives, strengthening consumer protection. These actions take into account specific characteristics of the country's different population segments.

"Banking penetration should be boosted by expanding the network of bank branches and agents and by increasing uptake of digital payments. The consolidation of financial inclusion will depend on the implementation of these recommendations, in order to reduce regional inequalities and ensure greater access for the population to financial services and credit", reads the report.

Read the original article on AIM.

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