MAP Madagascar 2017 found that the island state has a largely agrarian population vulnerable to the extremes of nature: 72% of adults depended on agriculture, more than 4.2m adults experienced a climate-related shock in the preceding year, and at least 40% reported being uncertain about whether they will have food going forward. In a largely vulnerable society such as this, the role of financial services to help weather shocks and to smooth and grow income is particularly pronounced.

In 2012, Madagascar signed the Maya Declaration, committing it to advance financial inclusion alongside peers from 80 other countries, globally. The targets set relate to microfinance, regulation and data to track financial inclusion. Since then, the country adopted a National Strategy on Financial Inclusion for 2013-2017, focused largely on microfinance. The IMF Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) report of 2016 and the 2017 World Bank Aide Memoire on financial inclusion has provided important checkpoints along the way.

MAP Madagascar was requested by the Ministry of Finance to provide inputs to the next round of its financial inclusion policy. The MAP reports build on the efforts already undertaken by the Ministry of Finance and the Coordination Nationale de la Finance Inclusive (CNFI), established to coordinate financial inclusion efforts in Madagascar.

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