Download or read book Why is There a Low Financial Inclusion in The Middle East and North Africa Region? written by Sylvana Selim and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Financial Inclusion is one of the most important subjects that recently caught the attention of several international organizations, used as a tool to reduce poverty, achieve economic growth and improves income distribution. The Objective of this study is to assess the reasons behind the low financial inclusion in particular the MENA region by using the World Bank's Global FINDEX database to perform probit estimations on the demand-driven factors and regression on the institutional and country level. We find that being a woman, older, more educated and richer are more likely to be financially included. Determinants differ between formal and informal saving and lending activities. For instance, women and educated households are more likely to resort to formal finance. Cash remains to be the main receiving and sending mean for many transactions. On the supply side, households who have access to the basic infrastructure and utility services, being unemployed and living away from remote areas as well as geographically proximity to institutions' branches, have higher probability to be included. Microfinance is still centered and dominated by credit but offering saving services is the starting point and the roadmap to financial inclusion.