Among the highlights of the 2016 AFI Global Policy Forum was the announcement of new Maya Commitments for greater financial inclusion. AFI institutions are now following up with specific details about their announcements and the Central Bank of Jordan has provided details on what they aim to achieve.

Central Bank of Jordan has set a national goal of increasing financial inclusion to 36.60 percent of the adult population by 2020 from the current level of 24.6 percent (as indicated in the 2015 Findex study) and to reduce the gender gap in the Kingdom to 35 percent from 53 percent over the same time.

To achieve this the central bank detailed nine specific targets under the Maya Declaration, which have been communicated to AFI. The targets include:

1. Finalize the draft of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy by the end of 2017;
2. Formulate comprehensive DFS and MFIs financial consumer protection guidelines by 1st quarter 2017;
3. Continue to champion the financial education program into the existing Jordanian school curriculum from class 7 to class 11 by 2020;
4. Enhancing interoperability among the payments systems in the kingdom by end 2018;
5. Ensure efficient and responsible growth of Microfinance sector as part of the formal financial system.
6. Provide the refugees and non-nationals with access to digital financial services.
7. Ensure the provision of an enabling legislative and regulatory environment for digital financial services.
8. Upgrade financial inclusion data collection and measurement to align with AFI’s network to produce comparable indicators by 2018.
9. Increase the financial inclusion access of Jordan’s youth (15-22 years) by 25.000 annually by 2020.

These ambitious targets represent a bold and definitive statement from the Central Bank of Jordan about its belief in the power and the importance of financial inclusion policy for the future development of the country.

Jordan’s commitments will be included in AFI’s Data Portal where their progress and achievements will be tracked, shared and celebrated throughout the AFI Network.

Central Bank of Jordan is a recent addition to AFI, having only joined the Alliance in April of 2016, however it has quickly established itself as a regional leader for financial inclusion policy, and a valuable addition to AFI’s network.