Philippines improves global ranking in digital, financial inclusion

The global ranking of the Philippines in providing digital and financial inclusion improved to sixth place this year from 15th last year amid the reforms being pursued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), according to a report by Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution. Based on the 2016 Financial and Digital Inclusion Project report titled Advancing Equitable Financial Ecosystems, Brookings said the Philippines got a score of 76 percent for sixth place this year from a score of 68 percent or 15th place last year. “The biggest improvement in scores between 2015 and 2016 was made by the Philippines, which increased its overall score by eight percentage points,” the report said. Brookings said the increase was driven in part by the launch of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) by the BSP as well as the strong performance in terms of mobile capacity as the Philippines has the highest...