Financial Inclusion: The Case of Republic of Macedonia

The core goal of this paper is to assess the level of finacial inclusion in Republic of Macedonia. The level of financial incluison in a country is important because it can facilitate the reduction of poverty in a country. Aslo the higher level of financial inclusion can have positive impact on macroeconomic development by facilitating the economic growth. The main mechanisams are lower transactional costs and better distribution of capital. Also the level of financial inclusion is important for effective execution of other social policies. The level of financial inclusion in Macedonia is on satisfactory level which was driven by the legislation also. Almoust all the population have access to bank account which is good base for further measures. Still, the use of the account only to receive wage and withdraw from ATM indicates for higher need for financial education. Also, the new payment methods like credit cards or electronic payments are on very low level which further emphasizes the need for education in which the banks must have more active role. The borrowings in major part are from relative and friends and from retail stores. In all categories as less financially included are older people, people with smaller income and people how are less educated. This gives clear path for the policy makers where to focus its activities of enhancement of the level of financial education.