The Role of Informal Financial Services in Africa

Leora Klapper and Dorothe Singer

Journal of African Economies, 2015, vol. 24, issue suppl_1, i12-i31

Abstract: This paper uses data from the Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database to document the state of financial inclusion in Africa. The data show that less than a quarter of adults in Africa have an account at a formal financial institution and many adults in Africa use informal methods to save and borrow. The data also show deep disparities across sub-regions and individual characteristics in how adults use financial services. The database can be used to track financial inclusion policies within the region and to develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how Africans save, borrow, make payments and manage risk.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/eju027 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:24:y:2015:i:suppl_1:p:i12-i31.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of African Economies is currently edited by Francis Teal

More articles in Journal of African Economies from Centre for the Study of African Economies Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().