scholarly journals Measuring Financial Inclusion in Developing Economies: A Multidimensional Index

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-262
Author(s):  
Nur Amirah Borhan ◽  
◽  
Ruhaini Muda ◽  
Saadiah Mohamad ◽  
◽  
...  

Financial inclusion is a major policy concern especially in developing economies. However, an established measure of financial inclusion is still absent. This paper aims to fill this gap by measuring and examining the level of financial inclusion in 66 developing economies. A Financial Inclusion Index (FII) was constructed, incorporating five indicators (ATM, Bank, Other Financial Institutions, Deposits and Loans) for 2013 until 2019. Two-staged Factor Analysis was employed for weights assignment. The results showed that the average level of financial inclusion in developing economies was low but with significant variation among group of countries. A lower level of financial inclusion was observed among the African countries as well as the low-income and lower-middle income countries. The paper also analysed the relationship between financial inclusion and economic development. The findings showed that more developed economies had higher income and thus, higher financial inclusion. While the index is valid and reliable to be used for comparison among developing economies, the study was unable to include indicators of mobile and internet banking due to data constraints. Despite this caveat, the findings of this study will be useful for policymakers in shaping financial inclusion policies. Keywords: financial inclusion, financial inclusion index, economic development, factor analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 417
Author(s):  
Tran Hung Son ◽  
Nguyen Thanh Liem ◽  
Nguyen Vinh Khuong

The study provides an overview of mobile money account usage, financial inclusion and digital payment transaction trends in Vietnam, and considers the factors influencing these trends. In general, the rates of using mobile money service and account ownership at financial intermediaries in Vietnam are still low, and other indicators of digital transactions suggest low levels compared to those of countries with low- and middle- income as well as to the world averages. The research also shows that owning an account at a financial intermediary facilitates the use of mobile money. This is a positive trend, at least compared to the situation in some African countries. Finally, having an account at a financial intermediary and using mobile money services generally have a positive effect on the participation in non-cash transactions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Japhet Jacksoni Katanga ◽  
Seleman Pharles

Globalization can be defined as the process based on international cooperation strategies, the aims of globalization is to expanded the operation of a certain business or service to become into a worldwide level, Globalization facilitate the modern advance technology which help community to undergo the social, political and economic development. Globalization economic has reinforced the margination for African developing economies and make to be dependent for the few primary commodities or service whereby the price and demand are extreme determine by externally. On this outcome it lead some of the African countries to be turn into poverty or economic inequality due let their own resources being determine by developed countries. On these paper you will get a chance to oversee the effect of adaption globalization to Tanzania economic growth.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 568-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaniyi Evans

Purpose The increased adoption of internet-enabled phones in Africa has caused much speculation and optimism concerning its effects on financial inclusion. Policymakers, the media and various studies have all flaunted the potentials of internet and mobile phones for financial inclusion. An important question therefore is “Can the internet and mobile phones spur the inclusion of the financially excluded poor? This study therefore aims to examine the relationship and causality between internet, mobile phones and financial inclusion in Africa for the 2000-2016 period. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis followed these three steps: examination of the stationarity of the variables; testing for the cointegration; and evaluation of the effects of the internet and mobile phones on financial inclusion in Africa for the 2000-2016 period using three outcomes of panel FMOLS approach and Granger causality tests. Findings The empirical evidence shows that internet and mobile phones have significant positive relationship with financial inclusion, meaning that rising levels of internet and mobile phones are associated with increased financial inclusion. There is also uni-directional causality from internet and mobile phones to financial inclusion, implying that internet and mobile phones cause financial inclusion. The study also shows that macroeconomic factors such as capital formation, primary enrollment, bank credit, broad money, population growth, remittances, agriculture and interest rate, as well as institutional factors such as regulatory quality are important underlying factors for financial inclusion in Africa. Originality/value In the literature, there is a dearth of research on the internet, mobile phones and financial inclusion, especially in Africa. Most of the related studies are conceptual and micro-based, with little empirical attention to the relationship and causality between internet, mobile phones and financial inclusion. In fact, this dearth of rigorous empirical studies has been attributed as the main cause of inadequate policy guidance in enhancing information communication technologies (Roycroft and Anantho, 2003), despite saturation levels in developed economies. This study fills the gap by evaluating the effects of the Internet and mobile phones on financial inclusion for 44 African countries for the 2000-2016 period.


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (01) ◽  
pp. 111-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER J. MORGAN ◽  
VICTOR PONTINES

Developing economies are seeking to promote financial inclusion, i.e., greater access to financial services for low-income households and firms. This raises the question of whether greater financial inclusion tends to increase or decrease financial stability. A number of studies have suggested both positive and negative impacts on financial stability, but very few empirical studies have been made. This study focuses on the implications of greater financial inclusion for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for financial stability. It estimates the effects of measures of the share of bank lending to SMEs on two measures of financial stability — bank nonperforming loans and bank Z scores. We find some evidence that an increased share of lending to SMEs aids financial stability by reducing non-performing loans (NPLs) and the probability of default by financial institutions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aye Mengistu Alemu ◽  
Jin-Sang Lee

Previous empirical studies on the effects of foreign aid on economic growth have generated mixed results that make it difficult to draw policy recommendations. The main reason for such mixed results is the choice of a single aggregate list of countries, regardless of the disparities in levels of development. This study therefore fills the development gap by disaggregating the African data into a panel of 20 middle- income and 19 low- income African countries over a period of 15 years between 1995 and 2010, and employing a dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model to address the dynamic nature of economic growth as well as the problems of endogeneity. The results of this study support the theoretical hypothesis that a positive relationship between aid and GDP growth exists, but only for low-income African countries, not middle-income ones. On the other hand, the study reveals that middle- income African countries tend to experience a greater impact on their economic growth from foreign direct investment (FDI) and natural resources revenues, mainly oil exports. This implies that the frequent criticism that foreign aid has not contributed to economic growth is flawed, at least in the case of low-income African countries. In fact, foreign aid has played a critical role in stimulating economic growth in such countries through supplementing domestic sources of finance such as savings, thus increasing the amount of investment and capital stock in them.


The role of public sector bank, in raising the economic equality on low income or middle income group, the term financial inclusion emphasis on redistribution of income within the same household, the deprive section of society avail the benefit with some standard provided by the government and how the approach have been taken by public sector bank to distribute the same and their behavioral ethics trail over the schemes. The study focused the dominant properties which fabricate imperative on financial inclusion among various categories of customers in public sector banks and also investigated the recognition of public in stand point of financial assistance and financial features offered by public sector bank through correlation statistical analysis with the sample of 200 with Chennai arena..


Author(s):  
Ramesh Chandra Das ◽  
Arundhati Mukherjee

There have been debates among the so-called developed economies and less developed and emerging economies on the issue of ‘who is responsible for' the emission of excessive greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the ambient environment. While methane emissions from agriculture and livestock is one of the important elements of GHGs, it is also required for growth of the agriculture and allied activities for all economic categories. The present study, under this backdrop, examines long run and short run linkages between methane emissions and agriculture outputs for high and low to upper middle-income countries for the period 1981-2012. The results show that the series of methane emissions and agriculture output are cointegrated in the 15 member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group, low income and middle income countries signifying the responsibilities of these income groups in methane emissions. The responsible countries in the OECD are USA, UK, Japan, Germany, and Italy. Further, in short run dynamics, the Granger Causality results show that methane emissions make a cause to agriculture output for 15OECD and low-income countries, and agricultural output is a cause to methane generation for middle and all low to upper middle income countries. China, India, and Brazil cannot be blamed for making excessive methane generation as both the series are not cointegrated for them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Kane ◽  
P Cavagna ◽  
I B Diop ◽  
B Gaye ◽  
J B Mipinda ◽  
...  

Abstract Background High Blood Pressure is the worldwide leading global burden of disease risk factor. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of adults with raised blood pressure has alarmingly increased from 0.59 to 1.13 billion between 1975 and 2015. Blood pressure-lowering medicines are cornerstone of cardiovascular risk reduction. Data on management of anti-hypertensive drugs in sub-Saharan Africa are squarce. Purpose Our study aims to describe antihypertensive drugs strategies in Africa. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey in urban clinics during outpatient consultation specialized in hypertension cardiology departments of 29 medical centers from 17 cities across 12 African countries (Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambic, Niger, Senegal, Togo). Data were collected on demographics, treatment and standardized BP measures were made among the hypertensive patients attending the clinics. Country income was retrieved from the World Bank database. All analyses were performed through scripts developed in the R software (3.4.1 (2017–06–30)). Results A total of 2198 hypertensive patients (58.4±11.8 years; 39.9% male) were included. Among whom 2123 (96.6%) had at least one antihypertensive drug. Overall, 30.8% (n=653) received monotherapy and calcium-channel blockers (49.6%) were the most common monotherapy prescribed follow by diuretics (18.7%). Two-drug strategies were prescribed for 927 patients (43.6%). Diuretics and Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors was the combination most frequently prescribed (33.7%). Combination of three drugs or more was used in 25.6% (n=543) of patients. The proportion of drugs strategies differed significantly according to countries (p<0.001), monotherapy ranged from 12.7% in Niger to 47.1% in Democratic Republic of the Congo (figure). Furthermore we observed a significantly difference of strategies between low and middle income countries (55.3% and 44.7% of monotherapy respectively) (p<0.001). According to hypertension grades 1, 2 and 3, the proportion of three-drugs or more combination was 25%, 28% and 34% in middle-income and lower in low-income countries (18%, 19% and 25%). Furthermore, Grade 3 hypertension in low income countries was still treated with monotherapy (36%) instead of 19% in middle income countries (p<0.01). Antihypertensive strategies by country Conclusion Our study described antihypertensive drugs use across 12 sub-Saharan countries, and identified disparities specific to the income context. Inequity in access to drugs combination is a serious barrier to tackle the burden of hypertension in Africa.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 484-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosuke Inoue ◽  
Annie Green Howard ◽  
Amanda L Thompson ◽  
Penny Gordon-Larsen

BackgroundLittle attention has been paid to how the association between urbanisation and abdominal adiposity changes over the course of economic development in low-income and middle-income countries.MethodsData came from the China Health and Nutrition Survey waves 1993–2011 (seven waves). A mixed linear model was used to investigate the association between community-level urbanisation with waist-to-height ratio (WHtR; an indicator of abdominal adiposity). We incorporated interaction terms between urbanisation and study waves to understand how the association changed over time. The analyses were stratified by age (children vs adults).ResultsAdult WHtR was positively associated with urbanisation in earlier waves but became inversely associated over time. More specifically, a 1 SD increase in the urbanisation index was associated with higher WHtR by 0.002 and 0.005 in waves 1993 and 1997, while it was associated with lower WHtR by 0.001 in 2011. Among child participants, the increase in WHtR over time was predominantly observed in more urbanised communities.ConclusionOur study suggests a shift in adult abdominal adiposity from more urbanised communities to less urbanised communities over a time of rapid economic development in China. Children living in more urbanised communities had higher increase in abdominal obesity with urbanisation over time relative to children living in less urbanised communities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEAN-FRANÇOIS ARVIS ◽  
YANN DUVAL ◽  
BEN SHEPHERD ◽  
CHORTHIP UTOKTHAM ◽  
ANASUYA RAJ

AbstractWe use new data on trade and production in 167 countries to infer estimates of trade costs for manufactured goods and agriculture for 1996‒2010. Trade costs are strongly declining in country income level. Among developing countries, only the upper middle income group has been successful in reducing trade costs faster than elsewhere in the world. Sub-Saharan African countries and low income countries remain subject to very high trade costs. Regional trade agreements, maritime transport connectivity, and trade facilitation performance are important determinants of trade costs.


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