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Deposit-taking (DT) saccos remain highly concentrated in less than a third of the 47 counties, new data showed, affirming the wide disparity in financial inclusion across the country.
About 60 per cent of all DT-saccos were head-quartered within just eight counties as at 2017, data by the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority(Sasra) showed, while nearly 75 per cent of all sacco branches were domiciled in just 15 counties.
The number of sacco head offices and branch networks in an area is a critical indicator of financial inclusion and access.
“The continued high concentration of both head-offices and branch networks of sacco societies in hardly a third of all counties in the country is evidence that most parts of the country are still under-covered by DT-saccos and thus almost probably financially excluded,” the regulator said.
Wealthy counties have the highest concentration of deposit-taking saccos, according to an analysis of separate data by Sasra and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), affirming the disparity in key economic activities and financial inclusion across the country.
Nairobi, with 42 DT-saccos, has the highest concentration of registered head offices of such saccos followed by Kiambu (14), Meru (12) and Nyeri (8).
Overall, the concentration of registered head-offices of DT-saccos remains high among 17 counties which accounted for 137 of all the saccos across the country.
The remaining 37 DT-saccos have their registered offices scattered among the other 23 counties, with the exception of the seven counties of Turkana, Isiolo, Tana River, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa and Makueni which remain without any registered head-offices of the saccos.
Similar disparity is reflected in the branch network. Data by the regulator showed that 15 counties accounted for 354 of the total 464 DT-sacco branches.
Kiambu leads in the number of branch networks with a total of 46. It is followed by Meru (39), Nairobi (33), and Nyeri (32). Mandera, Wajir and Garissa were the only counties that had no registered presence of any DT-saccos as at 2017.
Analysis of KNBS data showed that the concentration of saccos correlated with the poverty levels in various parts of the country, with a higher presence of saccos in wealthier counties including Kiambu, Meru, Nairobi and Nyeri. The latest poverty index report by the KNBS showed that Nairobi and Central Kenya counties dominate the list of the richest counties.
Nairobi has the lowest share of poor people with 17 persons in every 100 living in poverty, followed by Nyeri and Meru with 19 each, Kirinyaga (22) and Narok (23), according to the report released earlier this year.
KNBS defines households living in poverty as those earning below Sh3,252 a month in rural and peri-urban areas and Sh5,995 in major urban centres.
In Kiambu and Machakos 23 in every 100 residents are classified as poor, while Tharaka-Nithi, Murang’a and Mombasa close the top 10 rich list with 24, 25 and 27 persons in 100 struggling to survive respectively.
Turkana is classified as the poorest county in the 2016 survey with more than 79 in every 100 of its population living in poverty, followed by Mandera (78), Samburu (76), Busia (69), and Garissa (66). Marsabit, Wajir, Tana River, West Pokot and Isiolo counties also form the 10 poorest counties with 63.7, 62.6, 62.2, 57.4 and 51.9 per cent of residents struggling to meet basic needs.
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