Digital Financial Inclusion in Emerging and Developing Economies: A New Index
IMF Working Papers, March 19, 2021
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- Digital Financial Inclusion in Emerging and Developing Economies: A New Index
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Purva Khera, Stephanie Y Ng, Sumiko Ogawa, Ratna Sahay
- Published: March 19, 2021
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513574196.001
Overview
- Adoption of technology in the financial services industry (i.e. fintech) has been accelerating in recent years.
- The paper develops a novel digital financial inclusion index to systematically and comprehensively assess the extent and progress over time in financial inclusion enabled by technology.
- The index is intended as an analytical tool for researchers and policy makers.
Methodology
- The digital financial inclusion index is based on payments data covering 52 developing countries for 2014 and 2017.
- The index takes into account both access and usage dimentions of digital financial services (DFSs).
- The digital index is combined with traditional measures of financial inclusion in the literature and aggregated into an overall index of financial inlusion.
Key Findings
- The adoption of fintech has been a key driver of financial inclusion.
- There is wide variation across countries and regions:
- The greatest progress was recorded in Africa and Asia and the Pacific regions.
Policy Implications and Uses
- The index should offer a useful analytical tool for researchers and policy makers seeking to assess and track digital financial inclusion and its drivers.
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- Working Paper