The Welfare Effects of Formal and Informal Financial Access in the Gambia: A Comparative Assessment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to comparatively assess the impact of formal and informal finance on household welfare in the Gambia. The Gambia 2015 to 2016 Integrated Household Survey (IHS3) data was analyzed using Stata software version 17.0 to assess the impact of access to the various forms of finance on household food and non-food consumption expenditures, education expenditure, total income, and a subjective assessment of welfare. The study found that access to either formal or informal finance has some deleterious impacts on welfare, with the negative impacts from formal finance being generally lesser than those from informal finance, signaling that the different forms of finance have near-varying repercussions on household welfare. Access to and conditions of formal finance should be improved by removing or making less stringent the requirements, most of which are hard for households to meet.