In this note authors explore the manyways that adults in the Maldives are using digital paymentservices through mobile phones, the internet, and bankaccounts. The authors also explore savings habits andoutline opportunities to use digital technology to bringfinancial services to adults who still have no accounts. TheFindex Notes series summarizes data compiled by the GlobalFindex from nationally representative surveys of more than150,000 adults in over 140 economies in 2017, including morethan 1,000 adults in the Maldives. Research is showing thatwhen people embrace digital financial services, a range ofdevelopment benefits follow. When women in India receivedpersonal accounts linked to a jobs guarantee program, theyincreased their labor force participation and earningscompared to women who received such payments into a joinaccount controlled by their husbands. The improvements inemployment and earnings improvements disproportionatelybenefitted women with previously low labor forceparticipation and those whose husbands were most opposed totheir getting a job. Women-headed households in Nepal spent15 percent more on nutritious foods (meat and fish) and 20percent more on education after receiving free savingsaccounts. Another study found that the adoption of mobilemoney accounts in Kenya helped lift 194,000 people out ofpoverty, and that the accounts proved especially beneficialfor women. Mobile money has also been cited as a fast andefficient method of sending and receiving funds from anetwork of acquaintances during an emergency, potentiallyreducing the likelihood that those impacted by a financialcrisis will descend into poverty.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
