Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa Countries

Abstract

Mobile money can potentially contribute to the well-being of people at the bottom of the pyramid by providing them with the necessary platforms to access financial services. The mobile money platforms allow individuals to send, receive or save money in their mobile money wallet, services which they cannot access in the formal banking system. However, there is a shortage of evidence on the impact of these services on issues relating to financial inclusion, such as the ability to smooth consumption on the poor, making it impossible to derive evidence-based policies. Supply-side data is generally limited, as it is impossible to discern crucial estimates, such as age, gender and income, which are crucial to the development of policies. We use an After Access Survey that collects information on access and use of ICTs in seven African countries, in 2017. Our results suggest that mobile money services are more likely to be used by individuals who have no access to bank account. Supporting the notion that these services provide the poor with services that formal banks cannot offer. We find that individuals who live in households that have a relative who migrated to other places in the country are more likely to use mobile money services. Relatively wealthier and the employed individuals are more likely to transfer money to their dependents using mobile money services. At a local level, mobile money can be seen as a tool to drive financial inclusion, but it only allows users to make transactions and does not allow consumers to borrow for consumption smoothing.