IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/5610.html

Financial inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa : analysis and roadmap recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Pearce, Douglas

Abstract

The paper provides an assessment of the state of financial inclusion in the MENA region, and identifies constraints, opportunities, and priorities for significantly improving access to finance. Practical recommendations for improving financial inclusion are outlined. Firstly, governments could agree a Financial Inclusion Strategy that is underpinned by improved data, that has both public and private sector commitment, and that scales up financial access on a large scale, principally through bank accounts. Secondly, the regulators should provide a legal and supervisory framework that enables access to finance to be expanded primarily through banks, but with regulatory space for the use of agents, mobile phone technology, and for a finance company model for microcredit and leasing. Interest rate caps on microloans should be removed, and instead consumer protection and supervisory capacity for microfinance should be strengthened, while prudent competition between financial service providers should be promoted. Thirdly, financial infrastructure needs to continue to be a focus area, and in particular credit information and secured transactions. Finally, barriers to the growth of Islamic financial services should be removed so that they can better meet market demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Pearce, Douglas, 2011. "Financial inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa : analysis and roadmap recommendations," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5610, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5610
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2011/03/24/000158349_20110324100452/Rendered/PDF/WPS5610.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shamshad Akhtar & Douglas Pearce, 2010. "Microfinance in the Arab World : The Challenge of Financial Inclusion," World Bank Publications - Reports 10923, The World Bank Group.
    2. repec:wbk:wbpubs:6905 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Novat Pugo Sambodo & Riswanti Budi Sekaringsih & Meikha Azzani & Esa Assyahid, 2016. "Indonesian Muslim Household Financial Inclusion Profile: Evidence from IFLS4 and IFLS5 Panel Data," Universitas Gadjah Mada Working Papers on Islamic Economics and Finance 2017007, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Faculty of Economics and Business.
    2. Tarna Silue, 2021. "Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth : Evidence in the Digital Environment of Developing Countries," Working Papers hal-03281843, HAL.
    3. Muhammad Imran & Muhammad Kamran Khan & Salman Wahab & Bilal Ahmed & Zhang Jijian, 2025. "The paradox of resource-richness: unraveling the effects on financial markets in natural resource abundant economies," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-30, December.
    4. Ajide Folorunsho M., 2021. "Financial Inclusion and Labour Market Participation of Women in Selected Countries in Africa," Economics and Culture, Paradigm, vol. 18(1), pages 15-31, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A. & Tchamyou, Vanessa S., 2024. "Gender political inclusion and inclusive finance in Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(2).
    7. YanLong Li & Jin Peng, 2023. "Digital financial inclusion and welfare: Effect, mechanism and imbalance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Aman Pushp & Rahul Singh Gautam & Vikas Tripathi & Jagjeevan Kanoujiya & Shailesh Rastogi & Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu & Neha Parashar, 2023. "Impact of Financial Inclusion on India’s Economic Development under the Moderating Effect of Internet Subscribers," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-15, May.
    9. Xuluo Yin & Xuan Xu & Qi Chen & Jiangang Peng, 2019. "The Sustainable Development of Financial Inclusion: How Can Monetary Policy and Economic Fundamental Interact with It Effectively?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-14, May.
    10. Marrouch, Walid & Turk-Ariss, Rima, 2014. "Joint market power in banking: Evidence from developing countries," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 253-267.
    11. Ekin Ayşe Özşuca, 2019. "Gender gap in financial inclusion: Evidence from MENA," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 199-208.
    12. Shahid Manzoor Shah & Amjad Ali, 2022. "A Survey on Financial Inclusion: Theoretical and Empirical Literature Review," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(4), pages 310-330, December.
    13. Neaime, Simon & Gaysset, Isabelle, 2018. "Financial inclusion and stability in MENA: Evidence from poverty and inequality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 230-237.
    14. Ichraf Ouechtati, 2020. "The Contribution of Financial Inclusion in Reducing Poverty and Income Inequality in Developing Countries," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(9), pages 1051-1061, September.
    15. Tarna Silue, 2021. "Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth : Evidence in the Digital Environment of Developing Countries," CERDI Working papers hal-03281843, HAL.
    16. Fadi Hassan Shihadeh & Azzam (M T) Hannon & Xiu Hua Wang, 2017. "The Financial Inclusion Development in Palestine," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 7(1), pages 189-198, June.
    17. repec:wbk:wbpubs:12550 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Malak Reda, 2013. "The Effect of Mergers and Acquisitions on Bank Efficiency: Evidence from Bank Consolidation in Egypt," Working Papers 770, Economic Research Forum, revised Sep 2013.
    19. repec:wbk:wbpubs:12552 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Ozili, Peterson K, 2020. "Theories of financial inclusion," MPRA Paper 101810, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Peterson K. Ozili, 2021. "Financial inclusion research around the world: A review," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 457-479, October.
    22. Kim, Dai-Won & Yu, Jung-Suk & Hassan, M. Kabir, 2018. "Financial inclusion and economic growth in OIC countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-14.
    23. Wang, Yong & Duan, Yubin & Dou, Jiali, 2023. "Does resource-richness cause resources curse in financial market? A sustainable development overview for RCEP economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    24. Mohammad Tarique & Zia Malik, 2025. "Asymmetric Impact of Digital Finance on Poverty and Income Inequality Using NARDL Approach: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(5), pages 16211-16236, November.
    25. Mary A. Caplan & Julie Birkenmaier & Junghee Bae, 2021. "Financial exclusion in OECD countries: A scoping review," International Journal of Social Welfare, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 58-71, January.

    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. Shahid Manzoor Shah & Amjad Ali, 2022. "A Survey on Financial Inclusion: Theoretical and Empirical Literature Review," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(4), pages 310-330, December.
    2. Peterson K. Ozili, 2021. "Financial inclusion research around the world: A review," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 457-479, October.
    3. Nachiket Thakkar & Rafiqul Bhuyan, 2024. "Effect of Fintech on Sustainable Development Goals: An Empirical Analysis," Bulletin of Applied Economics, Risk Market Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 31-46.
    4. Fadi Hassan Shihadeh & Azzam (M T) Hannon & Xiu Hua Wang, 2017. "The Financial Inclusion Development in Palestine," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 7(1), pages 189-198, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:5610. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.