enhancing financial inclusion. southern african development community the african central bank ( acb ) was agreed upon in the 1991 abuja treaty. once fully implemented via pan - african parliament legislation, the acb will be the sole issuer of the african single currency, it will become the banker of the african government, it will become the banker to africa's private and public banking institutions, it will regulate and supervise the african banking industry, and it will set the official interest and exchange rates – all in conjunction with the african government ’ s administration. page 6 of 11 these are powerful engines for job creation in developing countries – and they have an increasingly important role to play in promoting the development of small businesses. indeed, this was a key topic at the most recent world economic forum on africa, held in kigali during may 2016. the world bank highlighted digital finance as an area which can contribute to achieving the goal of universal access to financial services by 2020. the g - 20 also recognised the potential role that digital finance can play and released the g - 20 high - level principles for digital financial inclusion during its hangzhou leaders ’ summit in september 2016. countries were encouraged to consider these principles as a basis for the development of country action plans to leverage the huge potential offered by digital technologies. the promotion of digital financial services would contribute towards the growth of inclusive economies. at this stage, allow me to hone in on financial inclusion as it relates to the sphere of digital finance. as has recently been reported by the g - 20 through the work done by the global partnership for financial inclusion, 2 billion adults globally – the majority of whom are women – do not have access to formal financial services and are thus excluded from opportunities to improve their lives. in ssa, the percentage of the population with an account at a financial institution is just above 30 per cent, compared with almost 50 per cent in emerging asia and almost 70 per cent in east asia. only about 23 per cent of small and medium enterprises in africa have access to formal financing. 12 the sadc financial inclusion strategy workshop report13, developed by the finmark trust and presented to stakeholders in february 2016, notes that financial inclusion in the sadc region is relatively low and varies widely across countries. a number of supply barriers have been identified, which include a lack of incentives and appropriate delivery channels that constrain financial institutions in providing and extending financial products and services to unserved and underserved segments of the population. on the demand side

an update on ‘ africa rising ’ address by mr daniel mminele, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, at the institute of international finance africa financial summit johannesburg 30 september 2016 1. introduction good morning, ladies and gentlemen it is a pleasure for me to address you today, some five years since the inaugural africa financial summit that was held in cape town in 2012. at that time, george abed1 noted the great progress that african countries had realised in stabilising their economies – a particularly remarkable achievement during a period of unprecedented global financial turbulence. however, he also cautioned that the prospects for continued growth in sub - saharan africa ( ssa ) were contingent on greater economic diversification and on reducing dependence on commodity exports – an issue to which i will return later in my address. i see from the programme that yesterday you have covered much ground regarding the economic and financial issues currently facing africa. there is no doubt that the economic environment has changed drastically since 2012. indeed, the challenges are presently somewhat greater and more complex. today, i will touch on this changing economic landscape, focusing on digital finance and financial inclusion as george abed is the former senior counsellor and director for africa and the middle east at the institute of international finance. page 1 of 11 well as the financial regulatory environment. each one of these is important in the african growth context. 2. a pause in the ‘ africa rising ’ narrative? beset by war, corruption, bad governance as well as poor macroeconomic policies, africa was labelled ‘ the hopeless continent ’ in 2000. some 10 years later, this narrative changed to a more inspiring one, of ‘ africa rising ’, facilitated by the commodities boom, growing manufacturing and services sectors, a rapidly growing middle class, improved health prospects for many africans, and a new - found passion for technology. with a stable economic outlook, foreign investment also increased. this was all the result of most african economies putting in place good governance frameworks as well as sound macroeconomic and market - orientated policies which spurred growth, trade, and investment. the global financial crisis, which caused turmoil in both advanced and emerging economies, did not affect ssa quite as severely. in part, limited financial integration with international capital markets and an inward focus of african banks had shielded the region. so instead, ssa flourished, ranking second behind emerging and developing asia in terms of growth. easy monetary policy in the advanced economies, the search for yield as well as excess liquidity in