IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nrb/journl/v28y2016i2p1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial Inclusion in Nepal: Policy Review and Prescriptions

Author

Listed:
  • Bhubanesh Pant, Ph.D.

    (Nepal Rastra Bank)

Abstract

With financial inclusion playing a vital role in reducing poverty and income disparity, it is emerging as a top priority for policymakers and regulators. A large number of countries have introduced comprehensive measures to improve access to and usage of tailored financial services. Greater financial inclusion is achieved when all economic activities and segments of the society have access to financial services with ease and at minimum cost. In the case of Nepal, though the need for financial inclusion by encompassing more and more of the excluded population by the formal financial system has been regularly emphasized in the country’s policy framework, a large section of population still remains outside the formal financial system. This paper, after assessing some relevant data on financial inclusion, reviews the policy measures implemented for enhancing it. The majority of the measures could not be executed to the degree desired due to problems of low financial literacy, paucity of infrastructural facilities as well as inadequate technology-based facilities, among others. Against this perspective, this study seeks to provide some prescriptions for enhancing financial inclusion in the country. These include, among others, promotion of financial literacy programs, launching of digital financial services, formulation of National Financial Inclusion Strategy, implementation of a Financial Inclusion Roadmap and according special role to microfinance institutions

Suggested Citation

  • Bhubanesh Pant, Ph.D., 2016. "Financial Inclusion in Nepal: Policy Review and Prescriptions," NRB Economic Review, Nepal Rastra Bank, Economic Research Department, vol. 28(2), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nrb:journl:v:28:y:2016:i:2:p:1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nrb.org.np/contents/uploads/2019/12/2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Park, Cyn-Young & Mercado, Rogelio, 2015. "Financial Inclusion, Poverty, and Income Inequality in Developing Asia," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 426, Asian Development Bank.
    2. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    3. Asian Development Bank Institute, 2015. "Asian Development Outlook 2015 Financing Asia’s Future Growth," Working Papers id:6666, eSocialSciences.
    4. Aaron Mehrotra & James Yetman, 2015. "Financial inclusion - issues for central banks," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, March.
    5. World Bank, 2014. "Global Financial Development Report 2014 : Financial Inclusion," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16238, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Masoud Mohammed Albiman & Hamad Omar Bakar, 2022. "The Role of Financial Inclusion on Economic Growth in Sub Saharan African (SSA) Region," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 8(4), pages 363-384, October.
    2. Evans, Olaniyi, 2016. "Determinants of Financial Inclusion in Africa: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach," MPRA Paper 81326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Dai-Won Kim & Jung-Suk Yu & M. Kabir Hassan, 2018. "The Influence Of Religion And Social Inequality On Financial Inclusion," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 193-216, July.
    4. Compaoré, Ali, 2022. "Access-for-all to financial services: Non-resources tax revenue-harnessing opportunities in developing countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 236-245.
    5. Neha Arora & Naresh Kumar, 2021. "Does Financial Inclusion Promote Human Development? Evidence from India," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 10(2), pages 163-184, December.
    6. Richard M. Kiai & Stephen I. Ng’ang’a & David N. Kiragu & Josphat K. Kinyanjui, 2016. "The Effect of Business Environment on Investment among Financially Included Youth in Kenya," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 6(4), pages 109-121, October.
    7. Ayushi Raichoudhury, 2020. "Major Determinants of Financial Inclusion: State-Level Evidences from India," Vision, , vol. 24(2), pages 151-159, June.
    8. Barine Michael Nwidobie, 2019. "Financial Inclusion Index in Nigeria: An Exploratory Analysis," International Journal of Publication and Social Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 4(1), pages 26-36, March.
    9. Kara, Alper & Zhou, Haoyong & Zhou, Yifan, 2021. "Achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals through financial inclusion: A systematic literature review of access to finance across the globe," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Ayyagari, Meghana & Beck, Thorsten & Hoseini, Mohammad, 2020. "Finance, law and poverty: Evidence from India," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    11. Noha Emara & Mahmoud Mohieldin, 2020. "Financial inclusion and extreme poverty in the MENA region: a gap analysis approach," Review of Economics and Political Science, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(3), pages 207-230, July.
    12. Simontinti Das & Amrita Chatterjee, 2021. "Role of ICT Dissemination and Digital Finance in Poverty Eradication and Income Inequality Reduction: A Sub-national Level Study from India," Working Papers 2021-210, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    13. Alicia Girón & Amirreza Kazemikhasragh & Antonella Francesca Cicchiello & Eva Panetti, 2022. "Financial Inclusion Measurement in the Least Developed Countries in Asia and Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 1198-1211, June.
    14. Thereza Balliester Reis, 2022. "Socio‐economic determinants of financial inclusion: An evaluation with a microdata multidimensional index," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 587-611, April.
    15. Cyn-Young Park & Rogelio Mercado Jr., 2018. "Financial Inclusion: New Measurement and Cross-Country Impact Assessment," Working Papers wp29, South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre.
    16. Hajilee, Massomeh & Niroomand, Farhang, 2019. "On the link between financial market inclusion and trade openness: An asymmetric analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 373-381.
    17. Dabla-Norris, Era & Ji, Yan & Townsend, Robert M. & Filiz Unsal, D., 2021. "Distinguishing constraints on financial inclusion and their impact on GDP, TFP, and the distribution of income," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-18.
    18. Emara, Noha & El Said, Ayah & Pearlman, Joseph, 2019. "On the Impact of Financial Inclusion on Financial Stability and Inequality: The Role of Macroprudential Policies," MPRA Paper 99258, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Jing Zhang, 2020. "A Theoretical Framework of Financial Inclusion on Poverty Alleviation," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(5), pages 1-1.
    20. Ghosh, Saibal, 2016. "Does mobile telephony spur growth? Evidence from Indian states," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1020-1031.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Inclusion; Access to Finance; Microfinance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nrb:journl:v:28:y:2016:i:2:p:1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Publication Division NRB (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nrbgvnp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.