Press Release No 27 –
National Demand Side Survey to Assess the Access, Usage and Quality of Financial Services and Products in Fiji
Press Release No. : 27/2014
Date : 28 October 2014
The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) and the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBOS) in partnership with the Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP) commenced an eight week National Demand Side Survey (DSS) from 27 October 2014. A sample size of 1,000 adults will be randomly selected from different households across Fiji, from rural, urban and maritime areas to ensure a nationally representative sample for the Survey.
The main purpose of this Survey is to help Government and other stakeholders gain a better understanding of the needs of Fijians in regard to financial services and products. The Survey will establish baseline data that will provide useful information on access, usage and quality of the financial services and products currently available to all Fijians from the viewpoint of the customer. The results of the Survey will be used to develop evidence based policy solutions to address the gaps, as well as to monitor the growth of financial inclusion.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Mr Barry Whiteside said that one of the key objectives of this Survey will be determining and agreeing on a new set of Financial Inclusion Targets. These will be incorporated into the new Financial Inclusion Strategy for Fiji and will replace the current framework that expires at the end of 2014.
The National DSS is being co-funded by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and PFIP. The RBF is the project manager assisted by FBOS and a technical committee made up of representatives from a range of stakeholders will provide oversight on the project. The results of the survey are expected to be released within the first quarter of 2015.