I really don’t get this kind of reporting. I don’t.
In a shocking revelation, a Sri Lankan banking expert says that more than 70 percent of the country’s population does not make use of banking facilities.
Shocking? Really? What part of this is shocking?
He said that majority of the people are low income and daily wage earners in the country and because of that, the usage of banking facility is very low in the country.
Like my house helper. When we first paid her, we paid Rs.300 (about US$3) for a day’s work – on the high side for the work she did. With inflation, that pay has gone up to Rs.450 (about US$4.50), still generous. Garment industry factory workers were earning around $20 to $40 a month five years ago (I don’t know current rate of earnings).
Many earn less than that. Many are paid daily.
Fahim’s told me about his first job out of college – he earned less than it cost him to live in a rented room smaller than most North American bathrooms, eating one meal a day. His parents gave him money to live away from home so he could have that job and gain work experience. This, I’m told, is a common experience here.
If these people have so little money that they buy their daily rice and vegetables every day because that’s all they can afford to buy, why would they have a bank account? It doesn’t benefit them in any way. And where would they get the money to open up the bank account?
Knowing all this, knowing what this country is like, why is a Sri Lankan website shocked that less than 30% of Sri Lankans have bank accounts? What is it about this that’s so shocking?
If this were a news report written by someone from a wealthy country targeted to news readers who were also wealthy (relative to third world countries), I could understand the shock – cultural differences and all that. But none of that applies.
The only part of this news report that’s shocking is that it was shocking to anyone.