Inclusive Economic Development Programs and Consumers’ Access to Credit in Emerging Market Economies: The Public Policy Role of Marketing in Rural Bank Programs in Ghana

Abstract

The mobilization of rural consumers’ potential savings to generate credit for inclusive lending to the rural/urban poor consumers in emerging market countries presents a strategic challenge for policy makers. Large-scale credit aggregation can only be achieved by the use of modern banks. However, rural consumers may resist the use of banks as objects of nonlocal origin. The authors rely on the classic theory of demand aggregation advantage to critically analyze the public policy framework underpinning rural banking for the attainment of inclusive economic development goals of bottom-of-the-pyramid countries. An empirical test of the framework in Ghana's rural banking programs shows that demand aggregation advantage predicts consumer satisfaction with the inclusive lending practices of banking institutions among existing clients but not new clients. The study suggests that the public policy framework for promoting compliance with inclusive lending goals of rural banking programs in Ghana does not adequately consider rural consumers’ interpretation of demand aggregation activities.