Does financial inclusion improve energy accessibility in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract

ABSTRACT We examine the nexus between financial inclusion and energy poverty. Analysing data for 27 energy-poor countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region over 2004–2021, we employ sequential (two-stage), panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) and two-step dynamic system GMM (generalized method of moments) regression models, and control for endogeneity, CSD, slope heterogeneity as well as stationarity and cointegration patterns of the variables. Our empirical results show that financial inclusion significantly reduces energy poverty in the selected energy-poor countries. The study also finds a positive significant association between energy access and GDP per capita, while oil price and energy intensity are inversely associated with energy access. The results are robust to different control variables, estimation methods and subsamples. These findings have strong policy implications for energy-poor countries and point to the need for appropriate policies to promote financial inclusion for reducing energy poverty.