Will Improved Financial and Digital Increase Financial Inclusion For All? Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa.
| dc.contributor.author | Jacob Nunoo | |
| dc.contributor.author | Chei Bukari | |
| dc.contributor.author | Michael Coffie | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-08-12T12:33:07Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-08-12T12:33:07Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2026 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Despite rapid growth in digital financial services (DFS) supply, adoption across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains low and unequal by gender and location. While existing research predominantly attributes this to demographic and socioeconomic factors, this paper proposes a complementary explanation: that deficits in digital literacy (DL) and financial literacy (FL) represent independent and underappreciated barriers to digital financial inclusion (DFI). Using data from the Financial Inclusion Insights (FII) Survey across Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, and employing two-stage least squares regression, dominance analysis, interaction analysis, and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, the study tests whether DL and FL independently drive DFI, whether their effects are complementary, and whether these effects extend beyond already-advantaged groups to women and rural dwellers. Three findings emerge. First, both DL and FL causally drive DFI beyond economic circumstances. DL’s effect is five times larger than FL’s (4.2 percentage points vs 22 percentage points), accounting for over 80 percent of explained DFI variance, with their joint effect exceeding individual contributions. Second, literacy effects are not concentrated among urban males: DL benefits women more than men (23.5 vs 21.4 percentage points), with the strongest joint effects among rural and female populations. Third, equalising DL endowments by gender would close 77 percent of the DFI gender gap; equalising by location would close 63 percent exceeding any other single factor. These findings reframe the policy debate: digital skills investment targeting women and rural communities is the most direct lever for inclusive DFI expansion in SSA. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://publication.aercafricalibrary.org/handle/123456789/4126 | |
| dc.publisher | AERC | |
| dc.title | Will Improved Financial and Digital Increase Financial Inclusion For All? Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa. |