Over 70pc bank accounts in Pakistan hold less than Rs50,000

KARACHI: In Pakistan, over 70 per cent of the commercial banks’ accounts contain deposits of less than Rs50,000 while 26 per cent of accounts contain balances between Rs50,000 to Rs1 million, according to numbers issued by Topline Securities on Saturday.  

While only 3 per cent of the bank accounts have balances over Rs1 million, the data added.

Notably, the number of people operating a bank account has jumped from a mere 16 per cent in 2015 to a staggering 64 per cent in 2023, according the data of the State Bank of Pakistan, released earlier in the year.  

Since 2015, the central bank has implemented National Financial Inclusion strategies (NFIS) 2015-18 and 2019-23 with the goal to improve access and usage of formal financial services by the masses.

A NFIS report issued in January with a number of targets set for 2024-28, the central bank said, As a result, the financial inclusion level, broadly defined as the share of the adult population having a bank account, has jumped from 16 per cent in 2015 to 64 per cent in 2023. 

“The headline targets for NFIS 2024-28 have been set to improve the level of financial inclusion in Pakistan to 75 per cent and reduce the gender gap to 25 per cent by 2028,” the report said. 

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Due to these initiatives the number of depositors has increased from 54 million in 2018 to 88 million in 2023, registering a growth of 63 per cent during the period, the State Bank report said.

The number of women depositors grew from 13.1 million in 2018 to 31.2 million in 2023, improving women’s financial inclusion from 23 per cent to 47 per cent, the report went on to add.