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Author: Stefan Johnson
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668248648
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 109
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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: Wafik Grais
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Financial services industry
Languages : en
Pages : 49
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Book Description
Economists have come to acknowledge that finance matters for development more, and in more ways than had been recognized for a long time. Changes in the financial services industry are providing immense possibilities for economic development. Grais and Kantur present a framework to help understand the changes occurring in the financial landscape. They also attempt to lay out the opportunities and the challenges the Middle East and Northern Africa region faces in light of these changes. The framework views financial development as a two-way, continuous, and dynamic interaction between, on the one hand, three driving forces shaping the industry and, on the other hand, four stylized dimensions of financial services. These driving forces jointly modify the financial landscape and are at the same time influenced by the effects of these changes. The three driving forces are financial liberalization, technological changes, and market innovation in response to demands for financial services. The four dimensions of financial services that are altered by the forces at play are disintermediation, institutionalization, modernization, and globalization. The authors provide a strategic perspective on the opportunities and challenges the profound changes in the financial industry bring to the Middle East and North Africa region, its policymakers, and market participants.
Author: Douglas Pearce
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Mr.Nicolas R Blancher
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484383125
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 73
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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: The World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821388568
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
The countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been recovering from the global financial crisis, but the recent political turmoil has interrupted the pace of credit and output recovery in many countries. The political turmoil in the MENA region reveals deep-seated frustrations and a sense of political, social, and economic exclusion, especially among the youth. The relatively weak growth performance reflects a combination of insufficient reforms and weak reform implementation, including financial sector reforms. The structural weaknesses of financial sectors imply that access to finance may remain restricted even with a full recovery of credit activity. Therefore, the region s countries face an ambitious reform agenda to revert two decades of relatively poor performance of output and employment growth. Financial development should be a central component of the region s growth agenda. This study reviews the region s financial systems, the severity of the limitations on access to finance, and the main factors behind such limitations. It goes on to provide a road map for expanding access and preserving financial stability.
Author: Stefan Johnson
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668248648
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 109
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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: Mr.Nicolas R Blancher
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1498300545
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : ru
Pages : 52
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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. Roberto Cardarelli
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 150
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Book Description
Despite some pre-pandemic gains in poverty reduction, literacy, and lifespans, many economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have struggled to ensure that the benefits of economic development and diversification accrue equitably to all segments of their populations. Among the main issues that remain unresolved are the high share of inactive youth (who are not engaged in employment, education, or training); large gaps in economic opportunities for women; fragmented social protection systems; and underdeveloped private sectors with tight regulation, absence of a level playing field, and limited access to credit that stifle the creation of new firms and growth, employment, and incomes. The COVID-19 pandemic not only risks wiping out some of the progress made in the region over the past decades, but could also exacerbate inequality in a durable way. There is evidence that the impact of the pandemic has been uneven across groups, with the recession having a disproportionate effect on the low-skilled, the young, women, and migrant workers in employment and incomes. With widespread inequality, high unemployment, and the expected entry of 27 million young people into the labor force over the next 10 years, countries across the MENA region need to evolve their economic models to boost job creation and make sure that the benefits of economic development are shared more widely among all their citizens. This book’s objective is to reassess the inclusive growth agenda in the MENA region in light of the rapidly changing pandemic-influenced world. It argues that countries need to embrace global trade and technological advances and evolving demographics at home as an opportunity to successfully implement policies that foster higher and more inclusive growth. It underscores that a return to the old social contract is neither desirable nor feasible. The book presents a comprehensive view of policies suited to the regional context that would boost job-rich and inclusive growth within a resilient macroeconomic policy framework. Its goal is to provide guidance to policymakers in the region to frame how best to promote inclusive growth, including in their engagement with all stakeholders.
Author: Angela Lyons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46
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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: Dana T. Redford
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1802620559
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201
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Book Description
Transforming Africa: How Savings Groups Foster Financial Inclusion, Resilience and Economic Development presents in-depth empirical research into current day savings group activities across Africa, exploring savings groups through the lens of financial inclusion and reflecting on formal finance, economic and social outcomes.
Author: Ana Paula Cusolito
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464816646
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 183
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Book Description
The argument that digitalization fosters economic activity has been strengthened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because digital technologies are general-purpose technologies that are usable across a wide variety of economic activities, the gains from achieving universal coverage of digital services are likely to be large and shared throughout each economy. However, the Middle East and North Africa region suffers from a “digital paradox†?: the region’s population uses social media more than expected for its level of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita but uses the internet or other digital tools to make payments less than expected. The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa: How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs presents evidence that the socioeconomic gains of digitalizing the economies of the region are huge: GDP per capita could rise by more than 40 percent; manufacturing revenue per unit of factors of production could increase by 37 percent; employment in manufacturing could rise by 7 percent; tourist arrivals could rise by 70 percent, creating jobs in the hospitality sector; long-term unemployment rates could fall to negligible levels; and female labor force participation could double to more than 40 percent. To reap these gains, universal access to digital services is crucial, as is their widespread use for economic purposes. The book explores how fast the region could approach universal coverage, whether targeting the rollout of digital infrastructure services makes a difference, and what is needed to increase the use of digital payment tools. The authors find that targeting underserved populations and areas can accelerate the achievement of universal access, while fostering competition and improving the functioning of financial and telecommunications sectors can encourage the adoption of digital technologies. In addition, building societal trust in the government and in related institutions such as banks and financial services is critical for fostering the increased use of digital payment tools.
