State Bank of Pakistan, Friday, organized a poster drawing competition under the theme “Imagine a World Without Cash” at State Bank Museum and Art Gallery to conclude the first edition of Pakistan Financial Literacy Week.
The central bank has organized Pakistan Financial Literacy Week from 4 to 8 March 2024 to promote financial literacy and raising awareness about digital financial transactions in the country and a host of activities were held during the first-of its endeavour in Pakistan to champion financial literacy and inclusion on a national scale.
Kids of various age groups come up with their novel ideas in the form of posters while employees of the SBP were also given chance to present their ideas and concepts on the subject through poster drawing.
Senior Joint Director Financial Inclusion Support department SBP, Shehla Riaz informed that poster drawing competition was also held in field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation in various cities of the country where kids presented their perceptions and ideas on the theme and the best poster were awarded with prizes.
She informed that a series of events, competitions and public engagements were organized during the week and SBP-BSC and commercial banks also held 160 financial literacy camps in 157 cities and towns of the country to promote a better understanding of the financial system and highlight the importance of encouraging responsible financial behaviour in the general public, especially in youngsters. She expressed confident that PFLW will help individuals understand how to leverage digital financial services to improve their lives.
It is pertinent to mention, the PFLW initiative is part of SBP’s National Financial Literacy Program (NFLP) which resulted into dissemination of financial literacy to more than 2.9 million individuals, with more than 50% female participation. In addition, an impressive 80% account opening rate of beneficiaries was witnessed under NFLP.
SBP is spearheading multiple initiatives, in partnership with banks, to provide an equitable and easy access to drive usage of a range of financial services while specialized schemes were introduced as well to enhance access to finance.
According to SBP, the initiatives have made an impact on advancing financial inclusion in Pakistan and there were around 177 million bank accounts in Pakistan as of June 2023 and of them 83 million were unique accounts, which is 60% of the 137 million adult population.
