Why is There a Low Financial Inclusion in The Middle East and North Africa Region? PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Why is There a Low Financial Inclusion in The Middle East and North Africa Region? PDF full book. Access full book title Why is There a Low Financial Inclusion in The Middle East and North Africa Region? by Sylvana Selim. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Sylvana Selim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Financial Inclusion is one of the most important subjects that recently caught the attention of several international organizations, used as a tool to reduce poverty, achieve economic growth and improves income distribution. The Objective of this study is to assess the reasons behind the low financial inclusion in particular the MENA region by using the World Bank's Global FINDEX database to perform probit estimations on the demand-driven factors and regression on the institutional and country level. We find that being a woman, older, more educated and richer are more likely to be financially included. Determinants differ between formal and informal saving and lending activities. For instance, women and educated households are more likely to resort to formal finance. Cash remains to be the main receiving and sending mean for many transactions. On the supply side, households who have access to the basic infrastructure and utility services, being unemployed and living away from remote areas as well as geographically proximity to institutions' branches, have higher probability to be included. Microfinance is still centered and dominated by credit but offering saving services is the starting point and the roadmap to financial inclusion.
Author: Sylvana Selim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Financial Inclusion is one of the most important subjects that recently caught the attention of several international organizations, used as a tool to reduce poverty, achieve economic growth and improves income distribution. The Objective of this study is to assess the reasons behind the low financial inclusion in particular the MENA region by using the World Bank's Global FINDEX database to perform probit estimations on the demand-driven factors and regression on the institutional and country level. We find that being a woman, older, more educated and richer are more likely to be financially included. Determinants differ between formal and informal saving and lending activities. For instance, women and educated households are more likely to resort to formal finance. Cash remains to be the main receiving and sending mean for many transactions. On the supply side, households who have access to the basic infrastructure and utility services, being unemployed and living away from remote areas as well as geographically proximity to institutions' branches, have higher probability to be included. Microfinance is still centered and dominated by credit but offering saving services is the starting point and the roadmap to financial inclusion.
Author: Stefan Johnson
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668248648
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 109
Get Book Here
Book Description
Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 3, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück (WiSo), course: International Business and Management, language: English, abstract: This paper observes the relationship between multiple variables in order to determine whether Financial Inclusion can be used as a tool for poverty reduction in the Middle East and North Africa. There are many reports that identify this to be function to something very likely as a tool around the world; however, there has been limited work regarding financial inclusion and the Middle East and North Africa. Through qualitative and quantitative research, this paper examines the possibility of this theory working in MENA. Wide income disparities, combined with government corruption, religious dispositions, and an overall lack of money are contributing barriers to the unbanked. These factors greatly limit the use of this tool until other issues are tackled and governments commit to more policies that will be conducive to growth; banks must be more open to lending; and people will have to become more financially literate. The World Bank, Gallup, the IMF, and various authors, in addition to the World Bank FINDEX dataset are used to reference information conceded by well-respected authors in the financial-, development-, and in the government sector. Although there seems to be a great deal of promise with the concept of Financial Inclusion as a Tool for Poverty Reduction world wide, it seems to be very limited in MENA, in the poverty-stricken nations. Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Yemen are observed in the report. Generally, there are barriers preventing the implementation of inclusiveness, which will prevent the advancement of poverty alleviation. More government commitment is required.
Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464812683
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Get Book Here
Book Description
In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.
Author: Angela Lyons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46
Get Book Here
Book Description
Research finds many large disparities still in financial inclusion around the world. One region that is often overlooked is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which appears to be lagging all other developing regions when it comes to financial inclusion. We use data from the 2014 World Bank Global Findex and supplement it with indicators of financial literacy and other macroeconomic characteristics to investigate the factors that shape financial inclusion in the MENA region. We focus on those groups that have been traditionally vulnerable - women, youth, the less educated, and the poor - and in the case of MENA, the Syrian refugees. Financial inclusion is measured comprehensively in terms of both savings and borrowing behaviors. The findings show that economically vulnerable populations are significantly less likely to be financially included both in terms of savings and borrowing. Moreover, the gaps in financial inclusion are particularly large for women and youth as compared to other regions. Further, households living in MENA countries with higher levels of financial literacy are more likely to be engaged in positive savings behaviors and less likely to be borrowing, especially from informal sources. Financial literacy, however, does not relate to all individuals in the MENA region equally, especially among those populations most vulnerable. Other macro characteristics associated with a country's financial and technological infrastructure, economic development, political stability and legal rights also matter, but perhaps not as much as a country's level of financial literacy. The findings have important implications for public and private stakeholders who are working to design policies aimed at improving access to financial services in the MENA region, especially via financial literacy. Vulnerable groups in the MENA region likely require more targeted interventions that address their specific barriers to financial inclusion, as well as more targeted financial literacy initiatives that are tailored to meet their specific needs. Efforts such as these are particularly important for a region suffering from political, economic, and social conflict that makes financial inclusion an even more urgent, yet challenging, goal.
Author: Douglas Pearce
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Mr.Nicolas R Blancher
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484398173
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 73
Get Book Here
Book Description
The importance of financial inclusion is increasingly recognized by policymakers around the world. Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financial inclusion, in particular, is at the core of the economic diversification and growth challenges many countries are facing. In the Middle East and Central Asia (MENAP and CCA) regions, SMEs represent an important share of firms, but the regions lag most others in terms of SME access to financing.
Author: Mr.Amadou N Sy
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484385667
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 61
Get Book Here
Book Description
FinTech is a major force shaping the structure of the financial industry in sub-Saharan Africa. New technologies are being developed and implemented in sub-Saharan Africa with the potential to change the competitive landscape in the financial industry. While it raises concerns on the emergence of vulnerabilities, FinTech challenges traditional structures and creates efficiency gains by opening up the financial services value chain. Today, FinTech is emerging as a technological enabler in the region, improving financial inclusion and serving as a catalyst for the emergence of innovations in other sectors, such as agriculture and infrastructure.
Author: Mr.Hamid R Davoodi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 9781589062290
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.
Author: Nadereh Chamlou
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821374966
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 118
Get Book Here
Book Description
The commonly held perception is that businesses owned by women in the Middle East and North Africa are small and informal, that they're less sophisticated, and that they're huddled in low-value-added sectors. In fact, as The Environment for Women's Entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa shows, there is very little difference between mail- and female-owned firms. Female-owned firms in the region are as well-established, productive, technologically savvy, and connected to global markets as male-owned firms. Although there are many similar characteristics and performance levels between male- and female-owned firms in the region, the book notes that women's entrepreneurship isn't reaching its potential, despite an investment climate that is much less gendered than suspected. With a significant increase in women's education level-in 11 out of 18 countries in the region women outnumber men in universities-and the strong economic rights women have in Islam, women's entrepreneurship can become a far greater engine for growth and diversification than expected in the past. This potential needs to be exploited vigorously. Reforming the investment climate to benefit all players is one important action. The second would be to remove or mitigate hurdles to their economic and social empowerment.
Author: Mr.Nicolas R Blancher
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498300545
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : ru
Pages : 52
Get Book Here
Book Description
The importance of financial inclusion is increasingly recognized by policymakers around the world. Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financial inclusion, in particular, is at the core of the economic diversification and growth challenges many countries are facing. In the Middle East and Central Asia (MENAP and CCA) regions, SMEs represent an important share of firms, but the regions lag most others in terms of SME access to financing.
