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💳📱 Iraq Pushes Digital Finance: E-Wallets & Mobile Banking to Empower Vulnerable Groups 🇮🇶✨
✨ Highlights Summary (English)
1️⃣ Digital Tools Becoming the Backbone of Inclusion
PM economic advisor Mazhar Muhammad Saleh says electronic wallets and mobile banking are now key mechanisms to boost financial inclusion — especially for women, youth, and rural communities who historically lacked access to traditional banking.
2️⃣ Financial Inclusion Climbs Above 40%
Iraq’s financial inclusion rate has risen to over 40%, a major jump from previous years.
Challenges remain — especially in remote areas where banking infrastructure, communications, and financial awareness are still weak — but progress is clearly underway.
3️⃣ Education & Awareness at the Core
Saleh highlights that financial literacy, capacity building, and national awareness campaigns are essential pillars.
Plans include:
Adding financial literacy skills to school and vocational curricula
Teaching safe banking habits and fraud protection
Encouraging saving and use of official banking channels
4️⃣ Reducing Urban–Rural Disparities
Limited access to formal banking deepens inequality.
To fix this, Iraq aims to:
Expand mobile banking to remote areas
Boost partnerships between banks + telecom companies
Strengthen digital transfer networks for easier access to payments and remittances
5️⃣ Expected Impact: Hundreds of Thousands Integrated
These policies could help integrate hundreds of thousands into the formal financial system.
Key benefits:
Better financing for small & micro businesses
Job creation via expanded lending
Digital platforms linking entrepreneurs with lenders
Lower cash dependency and faster transactions
6️⃣ CBI Leading a Full Digital Inclusion Strategy
The Central Bank is driving a phased plan centered on:
E-wallets & mobile payments
Digital and biometric IDs for remote account opening
Reducing banking costs for citizens
Saleh calls the bank account a fundamental pillar of inclusion.
7️⃣ Long-Term Vision: A More Inclusive, Resilient Iraq
Aligned with the 2024–2028 Development Plan and Iraq’s Vision 2050, the strategy combines:
Digital transformation
Stronger regulation
Expanded financing
Capacity building
The goal: a sustainable, inclusive economy where rural families, youth, and small businesses fully participate in national development.
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Saleh To Al-Furat News: Electronic Wallets And Mobile Banks Are The Path To Financial Inclusion For Vulnerable Groups
Time: 2025/11/29 Readings: 75 times {Economic: Al-Furat News} The economic advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh, revealed that electronic wallets and mobile banks represent a key mechanism to enhance financial inclusion for vulnerable groups in Iraq, to enable women, youth and rural residents to access banking services, reduce reliance on cash, and expand financing opportunities for small and medium enterprises.
Saleh told Al-Furat News that “financial inclusion indicators in Iraq have recently risen to more than 40%, compared to previous low levels, after suffering greatly from the high percentage of the population not covered by banking, especially in remote areas that suffer from weak banking and communication infrastructure, in addition to weak financial awareness, widespread reliance on cash, and limited funding for small and micro enterprises.”
He explained that “financial literacy, human capacity building, national awareness campaigns on saving, banking services, and protection from financial fraud represent one of the pillars of financial inclusion, along with introducing financial literacy skills into school curricula and vocational education,” considering financial inclusion “one of the pillars of economic and social stability.”
Saleh pointed out that “weak access to organized financial services deepens the disparities between urban and rural groups,” stressing that “the policy required to promote financial inclusion will provide innovative options for remote areas and vulnerable and poor groups through mobile banking and the provision of direct services, in addition to developing strategic partnerships between banks and telecommunications companies to deploy mobile payment services and enhance digital transfer networks to facilitate access to financial transfers for all residents.”
According to the economic advisor, "The expected effects of these policies will contribute to integrating hundreds of thousands of citizens into the formal banking system, improving project financing opportunities, and creating new jobs by expanding affordable lending and microfinance initiatives and establishing digital platforms to connect entrepreneurs with banks and financing providers, while reducing the economy's reliance on cash and increasing transaction efficiency."
He stressed that “the Central Bank of Iraq is working on implementing a digital financial inclusion strategy in a coordinated and phased manner, focusing on digital financial transformation through electronic wallets, mobile payments, and the adoption of digital and biometric identity to open bank accounts remotely and reduce operational costs for citizens,” considering the bank account “a fundamental pillar in financial inclusion.”
Saleh concluded by saying that “enhancing financial inclusion requires an integrated vision that combines digitalization, financial regulation, capacity building and expanding financing for small projects,” noting that “implementing these policies will create a more inclusive and sustainable economy and enhance the resilience of families and projects in remote areas and their active participation in sustainable development, in line with the 2024-2028 development plan and Iraq’s 2050 vision.” LINK
English (US) ·