scholarly journals The Protective Effect of Digital Financial Inclusion on Agricultural Supply Chain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from China

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 3202-3217
Author(s):  
Da Fang ◽  
Xiaoke Zhang

Financial inclusion plays a positive role in protecting agriculture during or after disaster. This paper focuses on the protective effect of digital financial inclusion on the agricultural supply chain and analyzes three mechanisms of the protective effect: financial widening, financial deepening, and financial services digitization. Based on the Gravity Equation, we conduct an empirical study using agricultural logistics and digital financial inclusion data from China. The regression results indicate that a 1% increase in the digital financial inclusion, measured by the Peking University Digital Inclusion Index, increases agricultural trade during the COVID-19 pandemic by approximately 1.6%. Furthermore, heterogeneous protective effects exist between regions in China. Digital financial inclusion is more effective in the Eastern regions in protecting the ASC than in other regions. This paper enriches the understanding of financial inclusion in helping agriculture supply chain recovery.

Author(s):  
Taiwo Adewale Muritala ◽  
Ismail O. Fasanya

The inflexibility of poverty is being met with increasing impatience from governments of diverse ideologies, donors and other international agencies. Recent data compilations show that many poor and non-poor people in many developing countries face a high degree of financial exclusion and high barriers in access to finance. Therefore, financial inclusion plays a critical role in reducing poverty. Hence, this paper examines the relationship between sustainable financial services and poverty reduction in Nigeria from 1965 - 2010 using Error Correction Model (ECM). It was observed that total value prime lending rate, financial savings, credit to private sector and rate of inflation all have significant impact on the financial deepening. In the final analysis, the study concludes that financial inclusion tends to strengthen financial deepening and provide resources to the banks to expand credit delivery thereby leading to financial development. The study therefore recommends that these findings, in turn, will inform the policy makers and stakeholders to build more inclusive financial systems


Author(s):  
Nabila Nisha ◽  
Kashfiya Nawrin ◽  
Anika Bushra

Access to financial services has always been limited in Bangladesh. The need for financial inclusion has thus largely surfaced in the country. As a result, agent banking services were implemented via an inclusive digital financial program across rural and unbanked areas of Bangladesh. Despite having a significant impact upon financial inclusion across developing countries, literature in this realm lacks in-depth investigations on agent banking and its impact on financial inclusion. This study thus aims to represent the overall aspect of agent banking and its association with financial inclusion in the setting of the developing country of Bangladesh. For this research, a case study approach has been employed. The study highlights that agent banking is an effective and credible way of entrenching financial deepening across the unbanked areas of Bangladesh. Moreover, the study emphasizes that agent banking can secure access to financial services for the rural poor and generate wholesome development for Bangladesh.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Patrick Emeka Okonji ◽  
Darlington Chukwunalu Ogwezzy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore areas of challenge in managing personal finances among visually impaired older people, with critical appraisal of current structures available in financial institutions for equal access to financial services. The paper intends to create understanding of the drawbacks to financial inclusion from the perspectives and experiences of older people with vision impairment in Nigeria as well as highlighting areas where support is/are needed to tackle digital exclusion. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a qualitative approach, interviewing 30 visually impaired older adults, aged 60 years and over. Participants were drawn from a voluntary organisation for people living with vision impairment in Southwest Nigeria. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using qualitative data analysis software – NVivo (version 11). Findings Results provide clear insight on the nature of the challenges faced by visually impaired older people, particularly with managing finances on computer-enabled platforms. The findings also revealed fears and hopes of this group about the rapid evolution of technologies for managing finances. Originality/value The study critically explored an understudied population, showing peculiar challenges and made a case for inclusive designs that are useful for digital inclusion of this population.


Author(s):  
Puja Rajvanshi ◽  
S. K. Vyas

India has always aimed at inclusive growth. A large part of population still resides in rural areas. Economic development of India is not possible without rural development. Several programs were introduced from time to time with the core objective of easing the accessibility of financial services to the poor but with little success. One of the reasons for rampant underdevelopment of rural India is inaccessibility of funds at the grass root level. As the formal credit institutions were considered incapable of dealing with the financial requirements of the poor, microfinance emerged as an alternate credit system. This has further gained momentum by using technology to provide financial services to the poor. This paper would focus on how digitization has influenced financial inclusion and what are the various challenges that must be tackled to make it more effective. As the focus is on SHG- BLP model, this paper would emphasize how the SHGs can utilize digital medium to reap more benefits out of this microfinance model. The paper would give insight into how the impact of microfinance can be enhanced using technology. KEY WORDS: Microfinance, Self Help Groups, NABARD, Digital Inclusion, Digitization etc.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaaba Baba Nmadu ◽  
Abubakar Mika’ilu

The Central Bank of Nigeria in 2012, as a sign of her commitment to the 2011 Maya Declaration, developed a financial inclusion strategy for Nigeria. The aim of the strategy, amongst others, was to reduce the percentage of adult Nigerians excluded from financial services from 46.3 percent as at 2010 to 20.0 percent by 2020 with the view to enabling them to have access to financial services, engage in economic activities and contribute to the growth and development of the country. The number of Nigerians that are included in the formal sector shall then increase from 30.0 percent in 2010 to 80.0 percent by the year 2020. By this, Nigeria had committed herself to reducing the population of unbanked and under-banked adults by about 50.0 percent by the year 2020. Maya declaration recognises the criticality of inclusive financing to not only inclusive growth but also global financial stability, financial deepening and poverty reduction for about 2.5 billion unbanked adults across the globe. This study is a maiden attempt to explore the contribution of the recently established Islamic bank (Jaiz bank) in Nigeria towards the reduction of both the unbanked and under-banked adult population since its inception in 2012. The study used an exploratory approach and concludes that Jaiz bank is immensely helping the country in her quest to satisfy the Maya commitments. The study recommends, among others that special consideration is given to banks of such standings to aid rapid expansion of access to finance for Nigerians who ordinarily wouldn’t have easy access to banking facilities.=============================================================Inklusi Keuangan dan Pendalamannya di Nigeria: Kontribusi Bank Jaiz. Sebagai bagian dari komitmennya terhadap Deklarasi Maya 2011, Bank Sentral Nigeria pada tahun 2012 mengembangkan strategi inklusi keuangan untuk Nigeria. Tujuannya, antara lain, adalah untuk mengurangi persentase jumlah orang dewasa di Nigeria yang belum tersentuh jasa keuangan dari 46,3 persen pada 2010 menjadi 20,0 persen pada 2020 sehingga memungkinkan mereka memiliki akses ke layanan keuangan, berperan dalam kegiatan ekonomi dan berkontribusi pada pembangunan negara. Harapannya, jumlah orang Nigeria yang masuk dalam sektor formal akan terdongkrak dari 30,0 persen pada tahun 2010 menjadi 70,0 persen pada tahun 2020. Untuk itu, Nigeria telah berkomitmen untuk mengurangi jumlah orang yang unbanked dan under-banked sekitar 50,0 persen pada tahun 2020. Deklarasi Maya mengakui pentingnya pembiayaan inklusif yang ditujukan tidak hanya untuk pertumbuhan inklusif tetapi juga stabilitas keuangan global, pendalaman keuangan, dan pengurangan kemiskinan bagi sekitar 2,5 miliar orang yang unbankable di seluruh dunia. Penelitian ini adalah upaya perdananya untuk mengeksplorasi kontribusi bank non-bunga (Jaiz bank) yang baru didirikan di Nigeria terhadap pengurangan jumlah orang yang unbanked dan under-banked sejak didirikannya pada tahun 2012. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan eksplorasi dan menyimpulkan bahwa Bank Jaiz memiliki kontribusi yang sangat besar dalam membantu Nigeria untuk memenuhi komitmennya terhadap deklarasi Maya. Kajian ini, antara lain, merekomendasikan bahwa pertimbangan khusus harus diberikan kepada bank-bank yang mempunyai peran sejenis untuk mempercepat perluasan akses keuangan bagi masyarakat Nigeria yang selama ini kesulitan dalam mengakses fasilitas perbankan.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-hsien TSAI ◽  
Kuan-Jung PENG

AbstractOnline supply-chain financing has been a relatively novel funding channel for suppliers as small- and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) to obtain loans in that the revolution of financial technology (“FinTech”) transforms traditional supply-chain financing, which used to be administered only by official banks, to an online model also used by electronic commerce platforms (“e-commerce platform”). Endeavours towards financial inclusion of the underserved SMEs could rationalize why we should allow for or encourage FinTech innovations exemplified by the online supply-chain financing mentioned above. What would be an adaptive regulatory regime for such innovative FinTech-enabled financial services as the online supply-chain financing? Within our conceptual framework to regulate the FinTech industry at the early stage, rather than rigorous rules traditionally placed on large financial institutions, a principles-based strategy should be adopted to strike a balance between financial stability and access to financial services advanced by disruptive innovations. As a necessary complement, regulatory sandboxes would be needed to spur a shift in institutional philosophy to a principles-based regulatory regime. In other words, the regulatory attitude of FinTech regulation should be humble and light-touch to promote innovation for improving digital financial inclusion, albeit on the premise of containing potential systemic risk and protecting consumer interest in the meantime.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulqader Fadhil Abed ◽  
Yazun Bashir Jarrar ◽  
Hamzeh J Al-Ameer ◽  
Wajdy Al-Awaida ◽  
Su-Jun Lee

Background: Oxandrolone is a synthetic testosterone analogue that is widely used among bodybuilders and athletes. However, oxandrolone causes male infertility. Recently, it was found that metformin reduces the risk of infertility associated with diabetes mellitus. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of metformin against oxandrolone-induced infertility in male rats. Methods: Rats continuously received one of four treatments (n=7) over 14 days: control DMSO administration, oxandrolone administration, metformin administration, or co-administration of oxandrolone and metformin. Doses were equivalent to those used for human treatment. Subsequently, testicular and blood samples were collected for morphological, biochemical, and histological examination. In addition, gene expression of the testosterone synthesizing enzyme CYP11A1 was analyzed in the testes using RT-PCR. Results: Oxandrolone administration induced male infertility by significantly reducing relative weights of testes by 48%, sperm count by 82%, and serum testosterone levels by 96% (ANOVA, P value < 0.05). In addition, histological examination determined that oxandrolone caused spermatogenic arrest which was associated with 2-fold downregulation of testicular CYP11A1 gene expression. However, co-administration of metformin with oxandrolone significantly ameliorated toxicological alterations induced by oxandrolone exposure (ANOVA, P value < 0.05). Conclusion: Metformin administration protected against oxandrolone-induced infertility in male rats. Further clinical studies are needed to confirm the protective effect of metformin against oxandrolone-induced infertility among athletes.


Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 479
Author(s):  
Seong Hoon Kim ◽  
Hye-Won Yum ◽  
Seung Hyeon Kim ◽  
Wonki Kim ◽  
Su-Jung Kim ◽  
...  

Taurine chloramine (TauCl) is an endogenous anti-inflammatory substance which is derived from taurine, a semi-essential sulfur-containing β-amino acid found in some foods including meat, fish, eggs and milk. In general, TauCl as well as its parent compound taurine downregulates production of tissue-damaging proinflammatory mediators, such as chemokines and cytokines in many different types of cells. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of TauCl on experimentally induced colon inflammation. Oral administration of TauCl protected against mouse colitis caused by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). TauCl administration attenuated apoptosis in the colonic mucosa of TNBS-treated mice. This was accompanied by reduced expression of an oxidative stress marker, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal and proinflammatory molecules including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6 and cyclooxygenase-2 in mouse colon. TauCl also inhibited activation of NFκB and STAT3, two key transcription factors mediating proinflammatory signaling. Notably, the protective effect of TauCl on oxidative stress and inflammation in the colon of TNBS-treated mice was associated with elevated activation of Nrf2 and upregulation of its target genes encoding heme oxygenase-1, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase, glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, and glutathione S-transferase. Taken together, these results suggest that TauCl exerts the protective effect against colitis through upregulation of Nrf2-dependent cytoprotective gene expression while blocking the proinflammatory signaling mediated by NFκB and STAT3.


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