The role of financial inclusion in achieving finance-related sustainable development goals (SDGs): a cross-country analysis

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Financial inclusion is critical for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, as there is a lack of extant studies linking financial inclusion to the SDGs, this present study used a panel regression model to examine the individual and combined effects of financial inclusion on the SDGs in selected countries between 2017 to 2020. As most extant studies have only examined specific SDGs individually, this present study is the first to examine the correlation between financial inclusion and finance-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings indicate that financial inclusion positively correlates to the 2nd, 5th, and 8th SDGs but not significantly enough to the 1st, 3rd, 9th, and 10th SDGs. A significant and positive correlation was also identified between financial inclusion and sustainable development in its entirety (finance-related SDG index). As financial inclusion may not directly affect all the SDGs, the uniqueness of this present study is that it examines seven finance-related aspects of SDGs, as outlined by the World Bank. The findings could encourage policymakers to increase efforts to raise the extent of financial inclusion to enhance the finance-related SDGs.