Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The Namibia Statistics Agency and the Bank of Namibia, in collaboration with FinMark Trust of South Africa, will be conducting the fourth Namibia Financial Inclusion Survey (NFIS) to collect information on financial needs, access to financial service preferences and financial behaviour of the people of Namibia.
The survey will be conducted to indicate exactly how accessible financial services and products are, and how affordable these are to all members of the society, including the vulnerable members such as women, youth and low-income groups.
While the 2017 round of the NFIS will be the fourth such survey to be conducted in the country, it will be the first time NSA conducts it, as previous surveys were conducted by FinMark Trust and coordinated by the Bank of Namibia.
The survey will not cover all households in the country but will be conducted only on randomly selected households aided by the use of Geographic Information System (GIS). The survey will be conducted through face-to-face interviews that will be administered by NSA staff.
The survey will be divided into two phases, firstly the listing phase will take place from 2 to 24 October and then the interview phase will be conducted in selected households from 24 October to 13 November in all 14 regions.
“Conducting the NFI Survey successfully depends on each of us contributing their part. The emphasis is on full participation in this survey. The nation is urged not to refuse to participate in this survey, as such is a violation of the Statistics Act 9 of 2011, which empowers NSA to collect information for statistical purposes and protects confidentiality of individual’s information that is being collected. It is not only our duty to participate as citizens but also our duty to enable Namibia to have sound information on which crucial policy decisions can be made.
The findings of the survey will be used to effectively evaluate and monitor the progress made specifically with regard to financial inclusion and most importantly it will provide up-to-date data on access to and usage of financial services and products,” said Statistician General and CEO of the NSA, Alex Shimuafeni.