Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa Asuming2018-1

Journal of African Business
ISSN: 1522-8916 (Print) 1522-9076 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjab20
Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent

Trends and Determinants
Patrick Opoku Asuming, Lotus Gyamfuah Osei-Agyei & Jabir Ibrahim

Mohammed
To cite this article: Patrick Opoku Asuming, Lotus Gyamfuah Osei-Agyei & Jabir Ibrahim
Mohammed (2018): Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Trends and Determinants,
Journal of African Business, DOI: 10.1080/15228916.2018.1484209
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2018.1484209
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JOURNAL OF AFRICAN BUSINESS
https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2018.1484209
Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Trends and

Determinants
Patrick Opoku Asuming, Lotus Gyamfuah Osei-Agyei and Jabir Ibrahim Mohammed
Department of Finance, University of Ghana Business School, Legon, Accra, Ghana
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This paper conducts a comparative analysis of financial inclusion in Financial inclusion;
31 Sub-Saharan African countries using data from the global Sub-Saharan Africa; trends;
determinants
Findex database. We find that while the aggregate level of finan-
cial inclusion has increased significantly between 2011 and 2014,
there are variations in both the level and rates of improvement
among the countries. We also find that individual-level covariates
(age, education, gender and wealth), macroeconomic variables
(growth rate of GDP and presence of financial institutions) and
Business Freedom are significant predictors of financial inclusion.
Our findings suggest that financial inclusion policies should target
key populations like women and young people.
1. Introduction
The role of efficient financial intermediation services in promoting economic growth
cannot be underestimated (Angadi, 2003; Greenwood & Javanovic, 1990; King &
Levine, 1993; Sharma, 2016). Financial services such as mobilizing deposits, facilitating
transactions, providing payment systems, and managing risk requires an effective
financial system (Demirguc-Kunt & Klapper, 2013). However, in many developing
countries, access to mainstream financial services remains a major constraint. In sub-
Saharan Africa (SSA), the share of the adult population having accounts or borrowing
from formal financial institutions remains low compared to other developing regions
(Mlachila et al., 2013).
In Africa, the banking system, which forms the bulk of the financial system, has
undergone substantial changes over the past two decades. It used to be dominated by
state-owned banks. However, in recent times, the barriers to entry for both local private
and foreign banks have been relaxed significantly and this has led to innovations and a
globalised outlook to banking in Africa (Beck & Cull, 2014; Derreumaux, 2013 as cited
in Beck, Senbet, & Simbanegavi, 2015). In spite of these improvements, the formal
financial system in Africa is still not very inclusive (Beck et al., 2015).
The last decade has witnessed renewed efforts by policymakers and the international
development community to expand access to affordable financial services to those
excluded from the formal financial sector. It is estimated that the world economy
CONTACT Patrick Opoku Asuming poasuming@ug.edu.gh

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis
2 P. O. ASUMING ET AL.
could generate $157 billion more in additional savings if “unbanked” adults channel
their informal savings into the formal financial system (Allan, Massu, & Svarer, 2013 as
cited in Arun & Kamath, 2015). This has led governments and other global institutions
to initiate programs to promote financial inclusion. For instance, India recently insti-
tuted a policy that requires banks to open accounts and provide financial services
without the traditional requirement of maintaining a minimum account balance. The
Maya Declaration, which was instituted by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI),
made governments openly declare their commitments to specific national financial
inclusion agenda. As a result, these governments are now putting in place strategies
to address financial exclusion in their individual countries. The World Bank, in its bid
to promote financial inclusion, has declared having universal financial access by 2020 as
one of its goals (World Bank, 2013).
A growing body of empirical work has shown that financial inclusion has positive
effects on a number of development outcomes. Economies with higher levels of
financial inclusion experience greater economic growth, as better access to financial
services encourages the poor and other marginalized groups to engage in entrepreneur-
ial activities (Demirguc-Kunt & Klapper, 2013). Financial inclusion also reduces income
inequality (Mlachila et al., 2013). In contrast, financial exclusion leads to financial
illiteracy and to the emergence of an unorganized and exploitative financial sector
(Sharma, 2016).
There is a dearth of information on the proportion of people who use financial services
across the world. Chaia et al. (2013) assert that this hinders policy makers’ “abilities to
identify what is working and what is not, and it limits financial services providers’ abilities
to identify where the opportunities lie and where they could learn from current successes”.
Several studies have sought to understand the determinants of financial inclusion around
the world using the recently constructed global Findex database (Allen, Demirguc-Kunt,
Klapper, & Martinez Peria, 2016; Cámara & Tuesta, 2015; Demirgüç-Kunt & Klapper,
2012a; Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper, & Singer, 2013; Efobi, Beecroft, & Osabuohien, 2014;
Fungáčová & Weill, 2015; Mohammed, Mensah, & Gyeke-Dako, 2017; Tuesta, Sorensen,
Haring, & Camara, 2015). Most of these studies focus on individual characteristics to
identify those who are financially excluded, ignoring the role of macro-level factors that
provide a context for understanding the micro-level determinants of financial inclusion.
Additionally, in spite of the recent expansion of programs to boost financial inclusion, there
has been little empirical work that systematically documents trends in financial inclusion to
enable policymakers identify areas where additional policy interventions are required.
This paper contributes to the emerging literature on financial inclusion by focusing on
sub-Saharan African countries where financial inclusion is particularly low. Our main
contributions to the literature are three-fold. First, we document recent trends in financial
inclusion for 31 countries in the sub-region by showing the progress from 2011 to 2014.
Our study differs from previous studies in this area in terms of the number of countries
covered and the focus on trends as well as determinants. Second, we focus on a wide range
of indicators of financial inclusion. Specifically, we study five indicators from three areas of
financial inclusion, namely ownership of accounts, savings, and borrowing from financial
institutions. Thirdly, unlike most existing studies we consider both micro-level and macro-
level determinants of financial inclusion. This allows us to understand their relative
importance as determinants of financial inclusion.
JOURNAL OF AFRICAN BUSINESS 3
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses the state of literature on
the trends and determinants of financial inclusion. Section 3 presents the data and
methodology of the study. Section 4 presents the results of the study. Section 5 presents
the conclusions as well as policy implications of the paper.
2. Empirical literature review

2.1. Literature review on trends
Financial inclusion is increasingly being recognized as an important tool for promoting
growth and reducing poverty. Consequently, the concept has garnered a lot of interest
in recent years and this is evidenced by the number of countries who committed to the
Maya Declaration and the G-20 Financial Inclusion Plan (Demirguc-Kunt & Klapper,
2012a). In spite of this worldwide recognition of its importance, there is limited
information regarding the extent of financial inclusion amongst various groups espe-
cially the poor and marginalized (Beck et al., 2015; Morgan & Pontine, 2014).
Demirguc-Kunt and Klapper (2012a) provides a comprehensive descriptive analysis of
the global Findex database. The global Findex database collects comparable information on
financial inclusion from a large number of countries. Using a new set of indicators to
measure financial access (account ownership, savings, borrowing, frequent use of account)
of adults in 148 economies around the world, they show that only 50% of adults of age
15 years and more in the world have an account at a formal financial institution in 2011. In
Africa, only 23% of adults have accounts while the number for all developing countries was
41%. In a similar vein, Demirguc-Kunt & Klapper (2012b) provide a detailed description of
financial inclusion in Africa. Their analysis shows that Africa lags behind other developing
countries in terms of financial inclusion. They cite high cost of access to finance, distance
from financial institutions and lack of documentation as the main causes of this.
According to the 2014 global Findex database, the world’s adult population rose
from 5 billion in 2011, to 5.2 billion people in 2014, with the proportion having formal
account rising from 2.5 billion (51%) to 3.2 billion (62%) (Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper,
Singer, & Van Oudheusden, 2015).They further noted that, in sub-Saharan Africa,
account penetration rose from 24% in 2011 to 34% in 2014, driven mainly by growth
in mobile money accounts.
A number of studies have shown that in the low-income countries, majority of the adult
population have no access to the formal financial system (Morgan & Pontines, 2014). For
instance, Chaia et al. (2013) report that in SSA, 80% of the adult population is unserved by
the formal financial system compared with 8% of adults in OECD countries. Sile (2013),
who studied financial inclusion in fragile states (weak states) in Africa, found that on
average, only 14% of adults in such states have an account at a formal financial institution,
compared to the continental average of 23%. Triki and Faye (2013) looked at how
technology, especially mobile technology impacts on financial inclusion and concluded
that the patronage of mobile technology in the financial sector in Africa has ensured that a
large number of people who would have otherwise been unbanked have access to reliable,
cheap and secure financial services. Arun and Kamath (2015) also noted that technology
plays a central role in financial inclusion. In SSA, 12% of adults have a mobile money
account and 45% of them rely on mobile phones alone for formal banking services.
2.2. Literature review on determinants

The growing literature on determinants of financial inclusion has focused on the role of
individual-level characteristics. Extant literature has demonstrated that the individual-level
characteristics such as age, gender, education and income level are the key determinants.
Most of the existing studies find that females are less likely to be financially included
(Allen et al., 2016; Aterido, Beck, & Iacovone, 2013; Demirgüç-Kunt et al., 2013; Ghosh &
Vinod, 2017; Mohammed et al., 2017). Aterido et al. (2013) find that females are less likely
to use formal financial services compared to males in a study of selected sub-Saharan
African countries. Similarly, Ghosh and Vinod (2017) show that, on average, female-
headed household are 8% less likely to access formal account as compared to their male
counterparts. They also find that female-headed households use 20% less cash loans as
compared to male-headed households. They argue that lower level of education and wage
rate constrain women’s level of financial inclusion. Similar evidence showing that women
have lower levels of inclusion is documented by Demirgüç-Kunt et al. (2013), Allen et al.
(2016) and Mohammed et al. (2017). Demirgüç-Kunt et al. (2013) find that violence against
women and early marriages explain the differences in account ownership between men and
women.
Existing literature also shows that age is another significant determinant of access to
and use of financial services. The evidence consistently shows that younger people are
less likely to have access to financial services (Efobi et al., 2014; Fungáčová & Weill,
2015; Allen et al., 2016; Soumaré, Tchana Tchana, & Kengne, 2016, &Zins & Weill,
2016). Age is also found to interact with other factors such as income or wealth and
education in explaining financial inclusion. Allen et al. (2016) noted that the poor, the
young and those from rural areas are most likely to be financially excluded.
Very few studies have focused on the role of macro-level factors. One exception is
Allen et al. (2016) who show that greater financial inclusion is associated with lower
account cost, greater proximity to financial institutions and a stronger legal and more
politically stable environment.
To sum up, the current literature focuses mainly on individual-level characteristics
that explain financial inclusion. Macro-level factors that explain the context of the role
of micro-level determinants have received very little attention. In addition, there has
been little attempt to understand, in a systematic way, the progress in financial inclu-
sion especially in SSA where financial inclusion is the lowest. This is important in the
light of the recent increase in global efforts to improve financial inclusion in the sub-
region. This study therefore sets out to fill these gaps.
3. Methodology
3.1. Data
We use data from three main sources. The first is individual-level micro data from the
World Bank’s global Findex database. The global Findex database reports information on
over 40 indicators on access to and usage of accounts collected from over 150,000 adults
randomly selected from 148 countries. The Findex database includes information from 42
African countries. Detailed information on the methodology of data collection can be
found in Demirgüç-Kunt & Klapper (2012a). A major advantage of using this database is
that a standardized questionnaire is used for collecting the indicators from all countries,
making it straightforward to compare the indicators or pool the data across countries. We
used the first two rounds of comparable data currently available – 2011 and 2014. We
obtained all our indicators of financial inclusion as well as individual-level covariates (age,
gender, educational attainment and within-country wealth index) from this source.
Because the study sought to look at determinants as well as trends, we limited our
sample to 31 sub-Saharan Africa countries for which both rounds of survey data are
available. This is made up of six (6) Central African countries (Cameroon, Chad,
Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Rwanda), eight (8) East African
countries (Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and
Uganda), six (6) Southern African countries (Angola, Botswana, Malawi, South
Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe), and 11 West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso,
Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo).
We also obtained country-level variables from the World Development Indicators
(WDI) and Business Freedom indicator from the Heritage Foundation.
3.2. Empirical strategy

Existing empirical literature has used Probit and Logit models to examine the determinants
of financial inclusion because of the binary nature of the dependent variables (see Allen
et al., 2016; Fungáčová & Weill, 2015; &Efobi et al., 2014). Some authors have used a
combination of both Probit and Logit models, while others have also employed selection
models to address issues of selectivity bias (see Allen et al., 2016; &Mohammed et al., 2017).
Following the literature, we employ the Probit model to estimate the determinants of
financial inclusion1. We used three indicators of financial inclusion i) ownership of
account, ii) savings, and iii) borrowing. For each outcome we estimate two regression
models. First, we estimate a model that includes only individual-level covariates. We then
estimate models where we add the macro-level indicators. Our estimating equations are:
Finci ¼ α0 þ α1 Genderi þ α2 Agegroupi þ α3 Educationi þ α4 wealthquintilei
þ α5 subregioni þ εi (1)
Finci ¼ β0 þ β1 Genderi þ β2 Agegroupi þ β3 Educationi þ β4 wealthquintilei
þ β5 subregioni þ β6 broadbandi þ β7 mobilei þ β8 Growth GDPPCi (2)
þ β9 GDPPCi þ β10 Rural Popi þ β11 ATMsi þ β12 Bus Freedomi þ μi
3.2.1. Dependant variables

Finci is the dependent variable for the three indicators of financial inclusion. We measure
the ownership of account in two different ways: (1) an indicator that takes value 1 for
having an account at a formal financial institution, mobile account or any other form of
account or zero otherwise, (2) an indicator that takes value 1 for having an account at a
financial institution and 0 otherwise. Similarly, savings was measured in two ways: (1) an
indicator that takes a value 1 if an individual saved in the last 12 months and zero otherwise,
1
As robustness check we also run Logit regressions of the same equations. The results are reported in the appendix. A
comparison of the Probit and Logit regressions show that the results (Marginal effects or goodness-of-fit) are very
similar.
and (2) an indicator that takes a value of 1 if an individual saved in a financial institution in
the last 12 months and zero otherwise. Our final outcome measure, which focuses on
borrowing, is an indicator that takes a value 1 if the individual borrowed from a financial
institution in the last 12 months and 0 otherwise. There is only one indicator for borrowing
because information on borrowing from informal sources was not collected. Table 1
summarizes the definition of these variables.
3.2.2. Explanatory variables

The independent variables are made up of both individual-level covariates and macro-
level characteristics. The individual-level covariates are gender, age group, education and
wealth quintile. The gender variable is a dummy that takes a value of 1 for female and 0 for
male. Consistent with previous literature, we expect this variable to have a negative
coefficient because it is harder for women to have bank accounts (Allen et al., 2016).
Agegroup is a categorical variable with five categories. It was constructed from a
continuous variable measuring age of the respondents in completed years. We do this
because we expect a non-linear relationship between age and financial inclusion and we
are interested in understanding which specific age groups are most or least financially
included. Our reference category of this variable group is those under 20 years.
Consistent with existing literature, we expect the level of financial inclusion to increase
with age.
Education is also a categorical variable with four categories representing respondents’
level of education. It ranges from having primary or lower education (the reference
category) to having tertiary education. Consistent with the existing literature, we expect
financial inclusion to be higher for individuals with higher education (Allen et al., 2016;
Mohammed et al., 2017).
Wealth quintile is also a categorical variable that measures relative wealth back-
ground of the respondents. There are five of such dummies with the poorest as the
reference category. It ranges from the poorest 20% income quintile to the richest 20%.
Our expectation is that account access and usage relates positively to the individual’s
level of wealth. The expectations are consistent with (Allen et al., 2016; Fungáčová &
Weill, 2015; Mohammed et al., 2017).
Subregion is a categorical variable denoting the sub-region under which an individual’s
country is classified. It is a four-category variable with the following classifications: Central
African countries, East African countries, Southern African countries and West African
countries. Central African countries is the reference category.
Aside the individual-level variables, we considered a number of country-level
characteristics. They are per capita GDP growth rate in 2014 (Growth_GDPPC), per
capita GDP in 2014 (GDPPC), IT infrastructure, percentage of rural population
(rural_pop), presence of financial institutions (ATMs) and Business Freedom. We
expect the level and growth rate of per capita GDP to have positive effects on
financial inclusion.
The IT infrastructure consists of two key variables, fixed broadband per 100 people
(broadband) and mobile subscriptions per 100 people (mobile). We included these vari-
ables in order to capture higher usage of mobile technology which has increased mobile
account ownership and the use of mobile banking services for the past years. We expect that
Table 1. Variables Descriptions and Sources.

Variable Description Source
Access to account A dummy that equals 1 if a respondent has an account either Findex database
formal or informal and 0 otherwise. We also defined formal
accounts: A dummy equal to one for account with financial
institution and 0 otherwise.
Savings with an A dummy equal to 1 if the respondent has saved money in the Findex database
account last 12 months and 0 otherwise. We also defined formal
savings: A dummy equal to one for saving with financial
institution and 0 otherwise.
Borrowing with an A dummy equal to 1 if the respondent has borrowed money in Findex database
account a financial institution in the past 12 months and 0 otherwise.
Gender A dummy equal to 1 if the respondent is a female and 0 Findex database
otherwise
Age: Under 20 years A dummy equal to 1 if a respondent falls under 20years of age Findex database
and 0 otherwise.
Age: 20–29 years A dummy equal to 1 if a respondent falls within 20–29years of Findex database
age and 0 otherwise.
Age: 30–39 years A dummy equal to 1 if a respondent falls within 30–39years Findex database
and 0 otherwise.
Age: 40–49 years A dummy equal to 1 if a respondent falls within 40–49years age Findex database
group and 0 otherwise.
Age: 50 + years A dummy which is equal to 1 if a respondent falls within the 50 Findex database
+ age group and 0 otherwise.
Primary or less A dummy that is equal to 1 if a respondent completed Primary Findex database
school or less and 0 otherwise.
Secondary A dummy that is equal to 1 if a respondent completed Findex database
secondary school and 0 otherwise.
Tertiary A dummy equal to 1 if a respondent has a tertiary education Findex database
and 0 otherwise.
Other Education A dummy equal to 1 if a respondent completed other forms of Findex database
education and 0 otherwise.
Wealth: 20% Poorest A dummy equals to 1 if respondent belongs to the poorest Findex database
quintile and 0 otherwise.
Wealth: 20% Poorer A dummy equal to 1 if respondent belongs to the poorer Findex database
quintile, 0 otherwise.
Wealth: 20% Middle A dummy which equals 1 if respondent belongs to the middle Findex database
Wealth: 20% Richer A dummy equal to 1 if respondent belongs to richer quintile, 0 Findex database
otherwise.
Wealth: 20% Richest A dummy equal to 1 if respondent belongs to the richest Findex database
IT infrastructure This variable represents infrastructure measured by broadband World Development
subscriptions per 100 people and mobile phone Indicators
subscriptions per 100 people.
Level and growth rate Level of Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2014 measuring World Development
of income per in 2011 Purchasing Power Parity terms. Indicators
person Growth rate of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in
2014.
% Rural population The percentage of rural population in each country. World Development
Indicators
Presence of financial Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) per 100,000 people World Development
institutions Indicators
Business Freedom It measures overall efficiency of government regulation of Heritage Foundation
business
countries with less fixed broadband penetration per 100 people and mobile subscription per
100 people will experience lower levels of financial inclusion. Hence, we expect both
variables to have a positive effect on financial inclusion
In general, we expect that the higher the percentage of rural population the lower the level
of financial inclusion. We proxy the presence of financial institutions with the number of
ATMs per 100,000 people and expect this to have a positive effect on financial inclusion.
Business Freedom (BF) shows the overall efficiency of government regulation of
business. It measures the difficulty in starting, operating and closing a business. The
BF score for each country ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the freest
business environment. The score is based on 10 equally weighted factors, using data
from World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report. Countries that have policies to
promote Business Freedom such as tax incentives, less strenuous business registration
procedures and business friendly environment are more likely to have majority of their
citizens registering and operating businesses. This increases their likelihood of partici-
pating in the formal financial system. We therefore expect this variable to have a
positive relationship with financial inclusion.
4. Empirical results
4.1. Descriptive statistics
Table 2 presents descriptive statistics of the variables used in the study. The table
presents information on individual characteristics (PANEL A) and the country-level
macro indicators (PANEL B) for all 31 countries pooled together. Standard deviations
are reported in parentheses.
PANEL A of Table 2 shows that the characteristics of the respondents across both
rounds of the Findex surveys are quite similar. This is important because it shows that
any improvements in financial inclusion between the rounds (2011 and 2014) are
unlikely to be due to differences in the samples being compared.
PANEL A shows that the sample is almost evenly split between males (51%) and
females (49%). The samples are quite youthful with about 70% of respondents being
under 40 years of age. For educational attainment, the number of respondents who
had primary education was 47.56% in 2011 and went up to 53.24% in 2014. There
was a slight decline in the percentage of respondents with secondary education from
43.63% in 2011 to 41.25% in 2014, while those with tertiary education increased
from 4.73% in 2011 to 5.33% in 2014. The samples for the two rounds also appeared
tilted towards relatively wealthier individuals within the various countries. For
instance, in 2011, 27.43% of respondents came from the richest quintiles in the
various countries while only 15.31% of the respondents are from the poorest
quintiles. The corresponding numbers for 2014 are 26.47% for the richest quintile
and 16.3% for the poorest quintile.
PANEL B of Table 2 shows that the fixed broadband subscription increased from 0.63
per 100 people in 2011 to 0.92 per 100 people in 2014. Mobile phone subscriptions also
increased from 63.60 per 100 people in 2011 to 82.38 per 100 people 2014. Per capita
income (2011 PPP) increased slightly from $4085.07 to $4325.07 even though growth rate
of per capita GDP slowed down slightly from 2.86% annually in 2011 to 2.49% in 2014. The
percentage of rural population fell from 62.23% to 60.94%. ATMs per 100,000 people
declined significantly from 13.96 in 2011 to 8.60 in 2014. Finally, the Business Freedom
index marginally improved from 51.02 in 2011 to 51.84 in 2014.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Pooled Sample.

Variables 2011 sample 2014 sample
PANEL A: CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS
Sex
Male 51.28 50.70
Female 48.72 49.30
Age group
Under 20 14.72 14.61
20–29 32.34 30.49
30–39 23.40 22.97
40–49 13.91 14.03
50+ 15.63 17.90
Educational Level
Other 04.08 00.16
Completed primary or less 47.56 53.24
Secondary 43.63 41.25
Completed tertiary or more 04.73 05.35
Within-economy household income quintile
Poorest 20% 15.31 16.30
Second 20% 16.54 17.30
Middle 20% 19.00 18.73
Fourth 20% 21.72 21.21
Richest 20% 27.43 26.47
PANEL B: MACRO-LEVEL DETERMINANTS
Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people 0.63 (1.94) 0.92 (2.87)
Per capita GDP (2011 PPP) 4085.07 (4828.92) 4325.07 (53.65)
Growth rate of per capita GDP 2.86 (3.29) 2.49 (1.63)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people 63.60 (34.74) 82.38 (40.09)
Rural population (%) 62.23 (16.48) 60.94 (16.64)
ATMs per 100,000 people 13.96 (16.96) 8.60 (13.37)
Business Freedom 51.02 (14.44) 51.84 (13.74)
PANEL C: FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Has an account 26.21 34.22
Has account at financial institution 23.92 28.65
Saved in last 12 months 21.80 33.39
Saved at financial institution in last 12 months 14.29 15.40
Borrowed from financial institution in last 12 months 6.26 6.73
Notes: Values for PANELS A and C are percentages. Values for PANEL B are means with standard deviations in brackets.
Data sources: All variables in PANELS A and C were obtained from the global Findex database. All Macro-level
determinants (except Business Freedom), were obtained from the World Development Indicators. Business Freedom
was obtained from the Heritage Foundation. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. ATM stands for Automatic Teller
Machines. PPP stands for Purchasing Power Parity.
4.2. Trend analysis of financial inclusion in SSA

PANEL C of Table 2 and Figures 1–6 present the trends in the five indicators of
financial inclusion between 2011 and 2014. Figure 1 presents the trends for the pooled
sample. Figure 2 shows the trends aggregated by sub-region while Figures 3–6 show the
trends for the individual countries grouped by sub-region.
From the results in PANEL C of Table 2 and Figure 1, we see that, overall, there has
been statistically significant improvements in four of the five indicators of financial
inclusion over the period. Accounts ownership increased significantly. The fraction of
respondents who reported having an account increased by 30% (from 26% in 2011 to
34% in 2014). Similarly, the fraction of respondents who have accounts at financial
institutions increased by 5 percentage points from 24% to 29%. In terms of savings, the
fraction of the respondents who reported having saved in any form over the last
12 months increased by 11 percentage points, from 22% to 33%. However, most of
this increase is due to people saving outside of financial institutions. Indeed, the
Financial Inclusion in SSA 2011-2014, Pooled Data
.4
percent of respondents
.3
.2
.1
0
2011 2014
Has account Has account at financial institution
Saved in the last 12 months Saved at financial institutions in last 12 months
Borrowed from financial institution in the last 12 months
Data source: Global Findex Database
Figure 1. Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014 (Pooled Sample).
Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: by subregion

.5
.5
.4
.4
.3
.3
.2
.2
.1
.1
0
0
Central Africa East Africa West Africa Southern Africa Central Africa East Africa West Africa Southern Africa
Saved in the last 12 months Saved at financial institution in last 12 months

Borrowed from financial institution in last 12 months
Figure 2. Indicators of financial inclusion, 2011-2014: By sub-region.
fraction of people who reported that they saved at financial institutions increased only
marginally from 14.3% to 15.40%. The fraction of individuals who borrowed from
financial institutions in the last 12 months remained largely unchanged at just
below 7%.
Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: Central African Countries
Cameroon Chad Republic of Congo

0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5
0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5
0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014
DRC Gabon Rwanda

0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5
0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5
0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Saved in the last 12 months Saved at financial institution in the last 12 months
Figure 3. Indicators of financial inclusion, 2011-2014: Central African Countries.
Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: East African Countries

Burundi Kenya Madagascar

0 .2.4.6.8
0 .2.4.6.8
0 .2.4.6.8
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Mauritius Somalia Sudan

0 .2.4.6.8
0 .2.4.6.8
0 .2.4.6.8
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Tanzania Uganda
0 .2.4.6.8
0 .2.4.6.8
2011 2014 2011 2014

Figure 4. Indicators of financial inclusion, 2011-2014: East African Countries.

Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: Southern African Countries

Angola Botswana Malawi
.8
.8
.8
.6
.6
.6
.4
.4
.4
.2
.2
.2
per
0
0
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014
South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe

percent of respond nts
.8
.8
.8
.6
.6
.6
.4
.4
.4
.2
.2
.2
0
0
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Figure 5. Indicators of financial inclusion, 2011-2014, Southern African Countries.
Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: West African Countries

Benin Burkina Faso Ghana Guinea
.6
.6
.6
.6
.4
.4
.4
.4
.2
.2
.2
.2
0
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria

.6
.6
.6
.6
.4
.4
.4
.4
.2
.2
.2
.2
0
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014
Senegal Sierra Leone Togo

.6
.6
.6
.4
.4
.4
.2
.2
.2
0
2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Figure 6. Indicators of financial inclusion, 2011-2014: West African Countries.

Figure 2 presents trends in financial inclusion by sub-region. The figure shows that
regardless of the indicator used, the level of financial inclusion is highest in Southern
African countries followed by East African countries and Central African countries. West
African countries have the lowest levels of financial inclusion. The figure also shows that with
the exception of borrowing, all sub-regions saw improvements in the various indicators of
financial inclusion. East African countries saw the most improvements across the indicators
with West African countries making the least improvements in the indicators.
Analysis of the indicators across the individual countries show wide variations in
both the levels and improvements in the financial indicators over the period. Mauritius
has the highest fraction of respondents who have accounts and accounts with financial
institutions (83.40% and 81.70% respectively) in 2011. In contrast, only 3.10% and 3%
of respondents in Niger report having an account and accounts at a financial institution
respectively in 2011. In terms of savings, Nigeria has the highest fraction of respondents
who saved in the last 12 months (64%). However, less than half of those savings were at
a financial institution (31.5% of all respondents saved at a financial institution). Access
to credit from financial institutions remains very low in all countries.
Between 2011 and 2014, majority of countries made progress on all the indicators of
financial inclusion with the highest progress coming from countries with the lowest
rates in 2011. The only exceptions were countries which retrogressed on most of the
indicators. They were Zimbabwe (where there was a decline in all the indicators), Sierra
Leone and Malawi (which saw declines in four of the five indicators), and Angola which
saw declines in three of the five indicators.
4.3. Determinants of financial inclusion

Tables 3–5 presents the regression results on the determinants of financial inclusion using the
five indicators. All tables report marginal effects from the Probit estimations. Table 3 presents
the results for the determinants of ownership of accounts and accounts at financial institu-
tions. The columns 1 and 2 present results based only on individual-level determinants while
the last two columns include the macro-level determinants.
Columns 1 and 2 show that gender, age, educational attainment and relative
wealth are all significant determinants of ownership of accounts and accounts
with financial institutions. There are also statistically significant differences in the
account ownership in the four sub-regions. Our results are consistent with earlier
findings (Allen et al., 2016; Fungáčová & Weill, 2015; Soumaré et al., 2016; Zins
& Weill, 2016). Females are 4 percentage points less likely to have accounts and 2
percentage points less likely to have accounts with financial institutions compared
with males. This is so because females are less likely to engage in formal jobs
which necessitate them to have accounts as compared to their male counterparts.
This is consistent with the works of Mohammed et al. (2017) and Ghosh and
Vinod (2017) who find similar results for SSA and India respectively.
With regards to account ownership, we find that it increases with age. Individuals
aged under 20 years (reference category) are less likely to have accounts or accounts at
financial institutions compared with all other age groups. This is so because younger
people in SSA do not often have access to jobs as compared to older people.
Table 3. Determinants of Account Ownership (Pooled Sample: 2014).

Has Has account at financial Has Has account at financial
account institution account institution
Variables Dy/dx Dy/dx Dy/dx Dy/dx
Respondent is female −0.0368*** −0.0243*** −0.0425*** −0.0304***
(0.0085) (0.0079) (0.0075) (0.0069)
Respondent is aged 0.1235*** 0.0997*** 0.1232*** 0.0995***
20–29 years
(0.0151) (0.0150) (0.0133) (0.0115)
30–39 years
(0.0188) (0.0202) (0.0165) (0.0149)
40–49 years
(0.0207) (0.0225) (0.0178) (0.0170)
Respondent is aged 50+ years 0.2103*** 0.2232*** 0.1723*** 0.1809***
(0.0301) (0.0309) (0.0196) (0.0164)
Respondent completed sec. 0.2518*** 0.2441*** 0.2022*** 0.1949***
sch.
(0.0305) (0.0328) (0.0208) (0.0187)
Respondent completed 0.4300*** 0.4555*** 0.3938*** 0.4265***
tertiary
(0.0804) (0.0724) (0.0575) (0.0451)
Respondent completed other 0.1149* 0.0729 0.0661 0.0318
sch.
(0.0613) (0.0566) (0.0582) (0.0537)
Poorer quintile 0.0286*** 0.0251*** 0.0324*** 0.0286***
(0.0097) (0.0077) (0.0100) (0.0075)
Middle quintile 0.0788*** 0.0742*** 0.0828*** 0.0780***
(0.0128) (0.0120) (0.0130) (0.0115)
Richer quintile 0.1250*** 0.1158*** 0.1324*** 0.1226***
(0.0183) (0.0173) (0.0164) (0.0138)
Richest quintile 0.1882*** 0.1787*** 0.1996*** 0.1891***
(0.0220) (0.0209) (0.0190) (0.0165)
East African countries 0.1179 0.0988 0.0814 0.0114
(0.0954) (0.0844) (0.0849) (0.0587)
West African countries −0.0301 0.0019 −0.0583 0.0051
(0.0556) (0.0532) (0.0669) (0.0516)
Southern African countries 0.1505** 0.1661** −0.0413 −0.0535
(0.0668) (0.0738) (0.0599) (0.0452)
Broadband per 100 people 0.0059 0.0028
(0.0092) (0.0066)
Mobile subscription per 100 0.0011 −0.0004
people
(0.0012) (0.0008)
Per capita GDP in 2014 (2011 −0.0000 0.0000
PPP)
(0.0000) (0.0000)
Growth rate of per capita GDP 2.0640* 1.8355**
(2014)
(1.2102) (0.7254)
% of rural population 0.0006 0.0008
(0.0023) (0.0017)
ATMs per 100,000 people 0.0062*** 0.0060***
(0.0018) (0.0013)
Business Freedom 0.0013 0.0035**
(0.0019) (0.0014)
Observations 31,015 31,015 31,015 31,015
Pseudo- R2 0.1615 0.1783 0.2110 0.2522
Wald Chi-square 839.02 1275.61 3967.67 4159.49
Dy/dx refers to marginal effects from probit regressions. Robust standard errors clustered at the country level are reported in
brackets. Omitted age group category is those less than 20 years. Omitted category for education is those who completed
up to primary education. Omitted category of wealth quintile is the poorest quintile. Omitted category for sub-region is
Central African countries. ***, ** and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% levels respectively. GDP stands for
Gross Domestic Product. ATM stands for Automatic Teller Machines. PPP stands for Purchasing Power Parity.
The probability of having an account and having an account at financial institutions

also increases with the level of education. Individuals who completed secondary and
tertiary education are 25 percentage points and 43 percentage points more likely to have
an account respectively. Similar results hold for ownership of accounts at financial
institutions. This finding corroborates results of earlier studies that show that adults
with higher education are more likely to own and operate an account as compared to
those with lower education (see Allen et al., 2016; Efobi et al., 2014; Mohammed et al.,
2017).
Account ownership also increases with wealth. Individuals in all other wealth
quintiles are significantly more likely to have both types of accounts compared with
the poorest quintile (reference category). Moreover, the coefficients get significantly
higher as we move to the wealthy quintiles.
Columns 1 and 2 also show that individuals in Southern African countries are 15 and
17 percentage points more likely to have accounts and accounts with financial institu-
tions respectively.
In columns 3 and 4, when the country-level variables are added, the results
show that the growth rate of per capita GDP, ATMs per 100,000 people and
Business Freedom index are the only significant macro-level predictors of own-
ership of accounts. Ownership of accounts increase with higher growth rates,
more ATMs and more Business Freedom. In both cases, the inclusion of the
country-level variables increases the performance of the model as shown by the
Pseudo-R2. Moreover, with the exception of the sub-regional dummies which lost
their statistical significance, most of the coefficients on the individual-level pre-
dictors remain unchanged with the introduction of the country-level macro-
economic variables.
Table 4 shows the predictors of having saved in the last 12 months and having
saved with a financial institution in the last 12 months. Overall, the findings are
similar to the findings from Table 3. The only exception is that the sub-regional
dummies are not statistically significant in the specification with only individual-
level covariates. Gender, age, educational level and wealth are all significant
predictors of both outcomes (columns 1 and 2). The results confirm findings of
other studies (see Allen et al., 2016; Mohammed et al., 2017; Zins & Weill, 2016).
As in Table 3, the macro-level variables that significantly predict savings are the
level and growth rate of per capita GDP, as well as Business Freedom.
Finally, Table 5 presents the results on the predictors of the likelihood of
borrowing from a financial institution in the last 12 months. Unlike, Tables 3 and
4, gender is not a significant predictor of this outcome except in the full specifica-
tion. Females are 0.6 percentage points less likely to report having borrowed from a
financial institution. However, age, education and wealth are significant predictors
even though the effects are not as high as the other indicators of financial inclusion.
Individuals from Eastern African countries are 4.5 percentage points more likely to
report borrowing from a financial institution in the last 12 months in the short
specification (with only individual level covariates) but this disappears with the
inclusion of country-level covariates. The only significant country-level predictor
of borrowing is the number of ATMs per 100,000 people.
Table 4. Determinants of Savings (Pooled Sample 2014).

Saved at financial Saved at financial
Saved in last institution in last Saved in last institution in last
12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months
Respondent is female 0.0338*** −0.0140*** 0.0323*** −0.0170***
(0.0089) (0.0051) (0.0089) (0.0047)
Respondent is aged 20–29 years 0.1398*** 0.0655*** 0.1379*** 0.0657***
(0.0141) (0.0091) (0.0132) (0.0066)
(0.0182) (0.0114) (0.0182) (0.0096)
(0.0202) (0.0134) (0.0188) (0.0111)
(0.0251) (0.0164) (0.0232) (0.0093)
Respondent completed sec. sch. 0.1064*** 0.1366*** 0.0986*** 0.1207***
(0.0209) (0.0187) (0.0176) (0.0142)
Respondent completed tertiary 0.2498*** 0.2715*** 0.2405*** 0.2577***
(0.0458) (0.0488) (0.0347) (0.0290)
Respondent completed other 0.0156 0.0275 0.0078 0.0120
sch.
(0.0409) (0.0299) (0.0427) (0.0284)
Poorer quintile 0.0544*** 0.0131* 0.0555*** 0.0134*
(0.0111) (0.0076) (0.0110) (0.0070)
Middle quintile 0.1028*** 0.0497*** 0.1038*** 0.0501***
(0.0146) (0.0109) (0.0145) (0.0100)
Richer quintile 0.1220*** 0.0826*** 0.1235*** 0.0844***
(0.0153) (0.0150) (0.0145) (0.0121)
(0.0174) (0.0162) (0.0168) (0.0133)
East African countries −0.0201 0.0354 −0.0716 −0.0071
(0.0617) (0.0446) (0.0523) (0.0392)
West African countries −0.0190 −0.0135 −0.0378 0.0002
(0.0379) (0.0374) (0.0379) (0.0363)
Southern African countries 0.0077 0.0513 −0.1118*** −0.0634**
(0.0487) (0.0421) (0.0352) (0.0305)
Broadband per 100 people −0.0135* −0.0082*
(0.0079) (0.0044)
people
(0.0010) (0.0006)
Per capita GDP in 2014 (2011 0.0000 0.0000*
PPP)
(0.0000) (0.0000)
Growth rate of per capita GDP 0.9081 1.1583**
(2014)
(0.8608) (0.4689)
(0.0021) (0.0011)
ATMs per 100,000 people 0.0029 0.0030***
(0.0021) (0.0008)
Business Freedom 0.0020 0.0030***
(0.0013) (0.0010)
Observations 31,015 31,015 31,015 31,015
Pseudo-R2 0.0572 0.1480 0.0692 0.1889
Wald chi-square 815.72 1591.56 1240.81 5540.13
Dy/dx refers to marginal effects from probit regressions. Robust standard errors clustered at the country level are
reported in brackets. Omitted age group category is those less than 20 years. Omitted category for education is those
who completed up to primary education. Omitted category of wealth quintile is the poorest quintile. Omitted
category for sub-region is Central African countries. ***, ** and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10%
levels respectively. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. ATM stands for Automatic Teller Machines. PPP stands for
Purchasing Power Parity.
Table 5. Determinants of Borrowing (Pooled Sample 2014).

Borrowed from financial institution in last 12 months
Variables Dy/dx Dy/dx
Respondent is female −0.0056 −0.0063*
(0.0039) (0.0037)
Respondent is aged 20–29 years 0.0178*** 0.0175***
(0.0031) (0.0027)
(0.0077) (0.0060)
(0.0102) (0.0087)
Respondent is aged 50+ years 0.0506*** 0.0460***
(0.0072) (0.0057)
Respondent completed secondary school 0.0445*** 0.0399***
(0.0072) (0.0046)
Respondent completed tertiary school 0.0983*** 0.0909***
(0.0292) (0.0220)
Respondent completed other school 0.0020 0.0010
(0.0250) (0.0250)
Poorer quintile 0.0102* 0.0101*
(0.0061) (0.0059)
Middle quintile 0.0257*** 0.0255***
(0.0064) (0.0061)
Richer quintile 0.0221*** 0.0223***
(0.0068) (0.0061)
Richest quintile 0.0478*** 0.0485***
(0.0078) (0.0068)
East African countries 0.0454** 0.0269
(0.0208) (0.0208)
West African countries 0.0095 0.0031
(0.0120) (0.0145)
Southern African countries 0.0197 −0.0142
(0.0146) (0.0121)
Broadband per 100 people −0.0020
(0.0021)
Mobile subscription per 100 people 0.0004
(0.0004)
Per capita GDP in 2014 (2011 PPP) 0.0000
(0.0000)
Growth rate of per capita GDP (2014) 0.2314
(0.2777)
% of rural population 0.0012
(0.0008)
ATMs per 100,000 people 0.0009**
(0.0004)
Business Freedom 0.0004
(0.0005)
Observations 31,015 31,015
Pseudo-R2 0.0817 0.0946
Wald Chi-square 369.15 2923.84
Dy/dx refers to marginal effects from probit regressions. Robust standard errors clustered at the country level are
5. Conclusion and policy implications

Financial inclusion brings about significant benefits to developing economies. Consequently,
many developing economies have instituted programs to expand access to financial services to
their unbanked populations. However, little is known about how such programs have
influenced the level of financial inclusion as well as the determinants of financial inclusion
especially in SSA. Understanding the trend and the factors that influence financial inclusion is
important, particularly in the African context where the level of financial inclusion is very low.
In the paper, we use the 2011 and 2014 rounds of data from the global Findex survey and
macroeconomic variables from WDI and the Heritage Foundation to understand recent
trends in financial inclusion as well as the determinants of financial inclusion for 31 SSA
countries for which data are available.
We also find that the fraction of people who own an account increased by 30% between
2011 and 2014, while ownership of accounts with financial institutions increased by 20%.
Interestingly, although the fraction of people who save increased by more than 50%, savings in
financial institutions increased only marginally by 7%. Borrowing from financial institutions
remained unchanged. Our study finds that, on average, Mauritius records the highest fraction
of respondents who own accounts and accounts with financial institutions whiles Niger
reports the lowest access to accounts and accounts with formal financial institution.
We also study the factors associated with having any form of accounts, accounts with
financial institution, savings and borrowing as well. We find that factors that affect ownership
of accounts include gender, age, educational level as well as within-country level of wealth. We
find that individuals under 20 years are less likely to own an account as compared to all other
age groups. Similarly, the level and growth rate of per capita GDP, the number of ATMS per
100,000 people and the existence of Business Freedom are significant predictors of ownership
and use of accounts for savings. However, these variables do not significantly influence
borrowing per se in SSA.
The study therefore recommends that financial institutions in SSA should design
policies that can target the youth and women in order to increase their level of financial
inclusion since they are the groups most excluded from the financial sector. Since SSA
hosts most of the world’s youthful population, their demand for financial services will
be high with the rise in technological advancement. Financial institutions in SSA should
therefore leverage on this to design financial products that are technologically driven so
as to attract the youth so that they can be financially included. In addition, financial
inclusion policies and programs should include more targeting of excluded groups.
Such targeting will enable policy makers to identify the specific constraints to financial
inclusion for these groups so that policies can be formulated to deal with these
constraints. In the area of future research, more analysis is needed on specific coun-
try-level determinants of financial inclusion for the least financial included countries.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Appendix
Table A1. Determinants of Account Ownership – Logit Regressions.

Has Has account at financial Has Has account at financial
account institution account institution
Respondent is female −0.0359*** −0.0231*** −0.0424*** −0.0298***
(0.0087) (0.0081) (0.0076) (0.0069)
(0.0146) (0.0143) (0.0131) (0.0110)
(0.0184) (0.0196) (0.0163) (0.0144)
(0.0202) (0.0216) (0.0178) (0.0166)
(0.0291) (0.0293) (0.0192) (0.0152)
(0.0305) (0.0329) (0.0209) (0.0186)
(0.0839) (0.0751) (0.0602) (0.0449)
Respondent completed other 0.1119* 0.0703 0.0613 0.0274
sch.
(0.0608) (0.0547) (0.0603) (0.0534)
Poorer quintile 0.0288*** 0.0247*** 0.0322*** 0.0285***
(0.0096) (0.0077) (0.0098) (0.0073)
Middle quintile 0.0800*** 0.0745*** 0.0842*** 0.0786***
(0.0126) (0.0120) (0.0128) (0.0114)
Richer quintile 0.1262*** 0.1159*** 0.1345*** 0.1244***
(0.0182) (0.0173) (0.0163) (0.0135)
(0.0224) (0.0214) (0.0195) (0.0166)
Eastern African countries 0.1196 0.1009 0.0806 0.0085
(0.0961) (0.0854) (0.0881) (0.0607)
West African countries −0.0289 0.0034 −0.0582 0.0042
(0.0566) (0.0542) (0.0700) (0.0534)
Southern African countries 0.1502** 0.1652** −0.0429 −0.0561
(0.0668) (0.0738) (0.0622) (0.0476)
Broadband per 100 people 0.0054 0.0023
(0.0093) (0.0067)
people
(0.0012) (0.0008)
Per capita GDP in 2014 (2011 −0.0000 0.0000
PPP)
(0.0000) (0.0000)
Growth rate of per capita GDP 2.0217* 1.8172**
(2014)
(1.1956) (0.7073)
(0.0023) (0.0017)
ATMs per 100,000 people 0.0061*** 0.0058***
(0.0018) (0.0013)
(0.0020) (0.0014)
Observations 31,015 31,015 31,015 31,015
0.1626 0.1796 0.2118 0.2536
877.98 1916.32 3075.39 4135.67
Dy/dx refers to marginal effects from Logit regressions. Robust standard errors clustered at the country level are
Table A2. Determinants of Savings – Logit Regressions.

Saved in the Saved at a financial Saved in the Saved at a financial
last institution in the last last institution in the last
12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months
Respondent is female 0.0334*** −0.0143*** 0.0316*** −0.0175***
(0.0090) (0.0054) (0.0090) (0.0049)
(0.0139) (0.0090) (0.0133) (0.0065)
(0.0181) (0.0118) (0.0183) (0.0099)
(0.0200) (0.0135) (0.0188) (0.0115)
(0.0251) (0.0162) (0.0234) (0.0092)
(0.0210) (0.0189) (0.0178) (0.0151)
(0.0455) (0.0467) (0.0345) (0.0267)
Respondent completed other 0.0157 0.0273 0.0076 0.0130
sch.
(0.0401) (0.0297) (0.0423) (0.0277)
Poorer quintile 0.0547*** 0.0122 0.0560*** 0.0134*
(0.0113) (0.0076) (0.0110) (0.0072)
Middle quintile 0.1033*** 0.0504*** 0.1041*** 0.0506***
(0.0146) (0.0110) (0.0146) (0.0100)
Richer quintile 0.1234*** 0.0835*** 0.1253*** 0.0857***
(0.0153) (0.0148) (0.0144) (0.0121)
(0.0174) (0.0164) (0.0169) (0.0136)
Eastern African countries −0.0204 0.0360 −0.0709 −0.0106
(0.0619) (0.0448) (0.0523) (0.0415)
West African countries −0.0199 −0.0128 −0.0375 −0.0005
(0.0384) (0.0380) (0.0384) (0.0388)
Southern African countries 0.0082 0.0516 −0.1099*** −0.0636*
(0.0487) (0.0415) (0.0350) (0.0334)
Broadband per 100 people −0.0133* −0.0084*
(0.0080) (0.0045)
people
(0.0010) (0.0007)
Per capita GDP in 2014 (2011 0.0000 0.0000*
PPP)
(0.0000) (0.0000)
Growth rate of per capita GDP 0.8823 1.1585**
(2014)
(0.8647) (0.4546)
(0.0021) (0.0011)
ATMs per 100,000 people 0.0028 0.0028***
(0.0020) (0.0008)
(0.0013) (0.0010)
Observations 31,015 31,015 31,015 31,015
0.0577 0.1494 0.0695 0.1890
776.84 1863.27 1094.92 3717.77
Table A3. Determinants of Borrowing – Logit Regressions.

Borrowed from financial institution in the last 12 months
Variables Dy/dx Dy/dx
Respondent is female −0.0056 −0.0069*
(0.0037) (0.0036)
(0.0031) (0.0026)
(0.0077) (0.0057)
(0.0101) (0.0085)
Respondent is aged 50+ years 0.0524*** 0.0483***
(0.0070) (0.0056)
Respondent completed sec. sch. 0.0461*** 0.0415***
(0.0071) (0.0042)
Respondent completed tertiary 0.0934*** 0.0852***
(0.0275) (0.0203)
Respondent completed other sch. −0.0042 −0.0070
(0.0216) (0.0202)
Poorer quintile 0.0110* 0.0113*
(0.0064) (0.0061)
Middle quintile 0.0266*** 0.0266***
(0.0065) (0.0061)
Richer quintile 0.0224*** 0.0231***
(0.0069) (0.0062)
Richest quintile 0.0481*** 0.0495***
(0.0079) (0.0067)
Eastern African countries 0.0466** 0.0265
(0.0208) (0.0217)
West African countries 0.0096 0.0015
(0.0121) (0.0154)
Southern African countries 0.0216 −0.0140
(0.0148) (0.0131)
Broadband per 100 people −0.0024
(0.0021)
Mobile subscription per 100 people 0.0004
(0.0004)
Per capita GDP in 2014 (2011 PPP) 0.0000
(0.0000)
Growth rate of per capita GDP (2014) 0.2233
(0.2692)
% of rural population 0.0012
(0.0008)
ATMs per 100,000 people 0.0008**
(0.0004)
Business Freedom 0.0005
(0.0005)
Observations 31,015 31,015
Pseudo-R2 0.0832 0.0966
Wald chi square 471.26 2830.67

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Journal of African Business

ISSN: 1522-8916 (Print) 1522-9076 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjab20

Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent

Patrick Opoku Asuming, Lotus Gyamfuah Osei-Agyei & Jabir Ibrahim

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2018.1484209

Published online: 21 Jun 2018.

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Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Trends and

CONTACT Patrick Opoku Asuming poasuming@ug.edu.gh

2. Empirical literature review

2.2. Literature review on determinants

3.2. Empirical strategy

3.2.1. Dependant variables

3.2.2. Explanatory variables

Table 1. Variables Descriptions and Sources.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Pooled Sample.

4.2. Trend analysis of ﬁnancial inclusion in SSA

Financial Inclusion in SSA 2011-2014, Pooled Data

Saved in the last 12 months Saved at financial institutions in last 12 months

Borrowed from financial institution in the last 12 months

Data source: Global Findex Database

Figure 1. Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014 (Pooled Sample).

Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: by subregion

Has account Has account at financial institution

Saved in the last 12 months Saved at financial institution in last 12 months

Data source: Global Findex Database

Figure 2. Indicators of ﬁnancial inclusion, 2011-2014: By sub-region.

Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: Central African Countries

Cameroon Chad Republic of Congo

DRC Gabon Rwanda

Has account Has account at financial institution

Data source: Global Findex Database

Figure 3. Indicators of ﬁnancial inclusion, 2011-2014: Central African Countries.

Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: East African Countries

Burundi Kenya Madagascar

2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Mauritius Somalia Sudan

2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

2011 2014 2011 2014

Has account Has account at financial institution

Borrowed from financial institution in last 12 months

Data source: Global Findex Database

Figure 4. Indicators of ﬁnancial inclusion, 2011-2014: East African Countries.

Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: Southern African Countries

South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe

Has account Has account at financial institution

Borrowed from financial institution in last 12 months

Data source: Global Findex Database

Figure 5. Indicators of ﬁnancial inclusion, 2011-2014, Southern African Countries.

Indicators of Financial Inclusion 2011-2014: West African Countries

2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria

2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Senegal Sierra Leone Togo

2011 2014 2011 2014 2011 2014

Has account Has account at financial institution

Data source: Global Findex Database

Figure 6. Indicators of ﬁnancial inclusion, 2011-2014: West African Countries.

4.3. Determinants of ﬁnancial inclusion

Table 3. Determinants of Account Ownership (Pooled Sample: 2014).

The probability of having an account and having an account at ﬁnancial institutions