“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released today the results of the seventh annual Financial Access Survey (FAS). The FAS is a key source of data on financial inclusion, providing insights on the availability and use of financial products such as deposit accounts, loans, and insurance policies by individuals and firms across the globe. The information is based on administrative data that is collected from both traditional financial service providers like commercial banks, microfinance institutions, or other deposit-taking institutions, and providers of digital financial services such as mobile money. The important role of digital financial services in promoting the spread of financial inclusion was explicitly recognized under the leadership of the Chinese G-20 Presidency this past year, leading to a revision and expansion of the G-20 Financial Inclusion Indicators. The FAS has been an official recognized source of these indicators since the G-20 Financial Inclusions Indicators were launched in 2012. The FAS database contains more than 150 series for up to 189 economies spanning the period 2004-15. This information can help policymakers identify opportunities to foster financial inclusion and allows analysts to gain a better understanding of the various linkages between financial inclusion and financial stability, income inequality, and economic growth…”