Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth

By use of econometric techniques, this paper investigates the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth for low-, middle- and high-income economies. Financial inclusion is measured by the usage of traditional financial services and mobile payment services. As mobile payments are a playing a growing role in the financial system of (low-income) economies, this paper is to give new insights on the socio-economic importance of this development. This paper postulates the existence of a positive impact of financial inclusion on real GDP per capita. Using data from 2011-2017, results have shown that the positive relationship between mobile banking and real GDP per capita is larger than that of traditional banking in low- and middle-income economies. No conclusion can be drawn on the impact of financial inclusion on GDP per capita growth.