A former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Thursday called for policies that would ensure that more women are brought into the financial system. According to her, including more women in the financial system could add about 10 to 12 per cent to the country Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Speaking in Lagos at a Diamond Bank partnership programme with Women world banking counsel for Africa, an initiative focused on women economic empowerment, financial inclusion and gender diversity in Africa, the former minister said reports had shown that two billion people were excluded from financial inclusion.
Furthermore, she said it had been argued that including 1.6 billion of them can raise local GDP by six percent by 2025. She pointed out that part of the number to be included, more than half (808million) of them are women.