ABSTRACT
Financial inclusion requires that previously unbanked or excluded individuals are included in banking products or services. Often, many publications navigate the importance of financial inclusion to economic growth and development. The thinking is that financial inclusion is vital to the creation of a strong and efficient financial infrastructure, which in turn, enhances economic growth. However, what is yet to be fully discussed are the factors that catalyse financial inclusion. An important argument is that of the nexus between financial inclusion and economic inclusion – two very strange bedfellows. Full financial inclusion cannot be achieved if certain classes of persons are marginalised within the economic mainstream. Economically excluded persons are unlikely to utilise banking services as they are not participating effectively in the economy and thus lack financial resources. In this vein, a curious case is that of the Gauteng Township Economic Draft Bill. The Bill seeks to regulate the management of the township economy. In its first draft, the Bill sought to limit the participation of foreign nationals without permanent residency status from participating in certain sectors of the township economy. A reason for this was the interpretation of s 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, as only guaranteeing the right to freely choose a trade/occupation profession to citizens, and by extension, to permanent residents. This had potential implications for a number of socio-economic rights for certain classes of foreign nationals. This chapter explores how such an economic exclusion of refugees may potentially jeopardise the project of meaningful financial inclusion.
