Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?

This paper uses data from the National Financial Inclusion Survey 2018 to understand the determinants of financial inclusion in Sri Lanka and their significance for inclusive growth. The findings highlight that gender, education, and formal employm...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Arandara, Rathnija, Gunasekera, Shanuki
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/990281586270572983/Financial-Inclusion-and-Inclusive-Growth-What-Does-It-Mean-for-Sri-Lanka
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33578
id okr-10986-33578
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-335782022-09-20T00:11:29Z Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka? Arandara, Rathnija Gunasekera, Shanuki ACCESS TO FINANCE FINANCIAL INCLUSION INCLUSIVE GROWTH GENDER FORMAL ECONOMY DIGITAL FINANCE GENDER GAP MICROFINANCE This paper uses data from the National Financial Inclusion Survey 2018 to understand the determinants of financial inclusion in Sri Lanka and their significance for inclusive growth. The findings highlight that gender, education, and formal employment are important determinants of financial inclusion in the country. The results indicate that being a male, having better education, and having formal employment increase a person's access to, and usage of, formal finance. The results also suggest that despite high levels and gender parity in education, Sri Lankan women seem to access more informal finance (and less formal finance) compared with men. There is a general lack of familiarity and low use of digital finance among women. Comparative analysis using the World Bank Group’s Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database 2017 indicates that although Sri Lanka leads its regional peers in access to finance, it lags its more aspirational East Asian counterparts in usage of savings and credit products as well as digital finance. The paper's findings complement recent policy initiatives such as the National Financial Inclusion Strategy for Sri Lanka. The findings also help in designing targeted actions to address the remaining gaps in financial inclusion in Sri Lanka. 2020-04-10T17:58:24Z 2020-04-10T17:58:24Z 2020-04 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/990281586270572983/Financial-Inclusion-and-Inclusive-Growth-What-Does-It-Mean-for-Sri-Lanka http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33578 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9204 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia Sri Lanka
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ACCESS TO FINANCE
FINANCIAL INCLUSION
INCLUSIVE GROWTH
GENDER
FORMAL ECONOMY
DIGITAL FINANCE
GENDER GAP
MICROFINANCE
spellingShingle ACCESS TO FINANCE
FINANCIAL INCLUSION
INCLUSIVE GROWTH
GENDER
FORMAL ECONOMY
DIGITAL FINANCE
GENDER GAP
MICROFINANCE
Arandara, Rathnija
Gunasekera, Shanuki
Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?
geographic_facet South Asia
Sri Lanka
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9204
description This paper uses data from the National Financial Inclusion Survey 2018 to understand the determinants of financial inclusion in Sri Lanka and their significance for inclusive growth. The findings highlight that gender, education, and formal employment are important determinants of financial inclusion in the country. The results indicate that being a male, having better education, and having formal employment increase a person's access to, and usage of, formal finance. The results also suggest that despite high levels and gender parity in education, Sri Lankan women seem to access more informal finance (and less formal finance) compared with men. There is a general lack of familiarity and low use of digital finance among women. Comparative analysis using the World Bank Group’s Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database 2017 indicates that although Sri Lanka leads its regional peers in access to finance, it lags its more aspirational East Asian counterparts in usage of savings and credit products as well as digital finance. The paper's findings complement recent policy initiatives such as the National Financial Inclusion Strategy for Sri Lanka. The findings also help in designing targeted actions to address the remaining gaps in financial inclusion in Sri Lanka.
format Working Paper
author Arandara, Rathnija
Gunasekera, Shanuki
author_facet Arandara, Rathnija
Gunasekera, Shanuki
author_sort Arandara, Rathnija
title Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?
title_short Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?
title_full Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?
title_fullStr Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?
title_full_unstemmed Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth : What Does It Mean for Sri Lanka?
title_sort financial inclusion and inclusive growth : what does it mean for sri lanka?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/990281586270572983/Financial-Inclusion-and-Inclusive-Growth-What-Does-It-Mean-for-Sri-Lanka
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33578
_version_ 1764479067994718208