Macro-economic determinants of financial inclusion: evidence from West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)

The aim of this paper is to identify the main macroeconomic determinants of financial inclusion in the WAEMU over the period 2007-2020. Our estimation results from GLS and RE reveal that income per capita, education, mobile phone access and gross fixed capital formation positively and significantly affect financial inclusion in WAEMU. However, our results show that final household consumption expenditure and the share of the population living in rural areas have a negative and significant impact on financial inclusion in WAEMU. This suggests the need to strengthen the financial education of populations, as well as investment in adequate infrastructure in rural areas, likely to attract investors from the financial system.