Financial inclusion, whether in terms of adoption or usage, is one of the main, but challenging priorities in the MENA region. The paper empirically investigates the relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth in selected MENA countries.A system GMM dynamic panel model technique is employed on yearly data for the period 1965-2016, using a number of measures of financial inclusion covering the households and the firms access to finance. Particularly, the study uses indicators such as the number of bank accounts (per 1000 adult population), bank accounts for corporates/enterprises, and the number of bank branches and ATMS (per 100,000 people), percentage of firms using banks to finance investments, the percentage of firms using bank loans to finance working capital, and the percentage of firms using banks to finance investments. The results of the study indicate that financial inclusion positively impacts GDP per capita growth in the selected countries. Financial inclusion measured by the household's financial access index has a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth in the MENA region, but requires supervisory and regulatory regimes with backing of the rule of law, judicial independence, contract enforcement, control of corruption, and political stability. The effect firms' access to finance is only significant in the presence of strong institutions. The results were insignificant for the general financial inclusion measure.
This study revisits sovereign credit ratings, contagion and capital flows to Emerging Markets (EMs), and clarify the relationship between them. Specifically, this study analyzes how the changes in sovereign rating influence different types of capital flows to EMs and whether the changes in the different kinds of capital flows in one country be explained by a sovereign ratings' change in another country. Using Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond Dynamic Panel System GMM for 23 EMs over the period 1990-2012 the results of the study suggest that sovereign ratings is a crucial factor for EMs' access to international capital markets and that capital flows is a major source of financing for Ems. In addition, the results show that financial contagion may continue to be a threat to capital flowing into EMs and that financial crisis increases the impact of sovereign rating on foreign direct investment but is not the case with portfolio investment.
Financial Inclusion -access to financial products by households and firms -is one of the main albeit challenging priorities, both for Advanced Economies (AEs) as well as Emerging Markets (EMs), even more so for the latter.Financial inclusion facilitates consumption smoothing, lowers income inequality, enables risk diversification, and tends to positively affect economic growth. Financial stability is another rising priority among policy makers. This is evident in the re-emergence of macroprudential policies after the global financial crisis, minimizing systemic risk, particularly risks associated with rapid credit growth. However, there are significant policy tradeoffs that could exist between both financial inclusion and financial stability, with mixed evidence on the link between the two objectives. Given the importance of macroprudential policies as a toolbox to achieve financial stability, we examine the impact of macroprudential policies on financial inclusion -a potential cause for financial instability if not carefully implemented. Using panel regressions for 67 countries over the period 2000-2014, our results point to mixed effects of macroprudential policies. The usage (and tightening) of some tools, such as the debt-to-income ratio, appear to reduce financial inclusion whereas others, such as the required reserve ratio (RRR), increase it. Specifically, both institutional quality and financial development appear to increase the effectiveness of macroprudential policies on financial inclusion. Institutional quality helps macroprudential policies boost financial inclusion, with mixed effects as a result of financial development, but the results are more significant when we include either institutional quality or financial development. This leads us to believe that macroprudential policies conditional on better institutional quality and financial development improves financial inclusion. This has important policy implications for financial stability.Recently there is a rise in the literature that examines the redistributive impact of macroprudential policies, both theoretically and empirically. Empirically, the focus has been on income inequality, which we briefly touch upon given the rising literature on inequality and financial conclusion. The closest paper to this chapter is that of Ayyagari et al. (2017) that examines the impact of macroprudential policies on firm-financing and discusses the intended consequences of macroprudential policies. 9 As macroprudential policies primarily target financial stability, the implementation of macroprudential policies may have spill-over effects on variables that were not primarily target. See Ayyagari et al. (2017) for an example; smaller firms adversely affected by macroprudential policies relative to larger firms. 10 With more work done on financial deepening, for example, has been found -both theoretically and empirically to play a crucial role in alleviating poverty in Emerging Markets (EMs). Within this context, the largest, and most immediate effect on welf...
Using dynamic panel System GMM for 24 EMs over the period 1990-2018, we analyze how changes in sovereign ratings affect FDI inflows to EMs. The study also estimates the contagion effect of a ratings change among any of the BRICS countries on three regions, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America and Asia. Third, we estimate the impact of a ratings change on FDI inflows in the presence of two types of crises, the 2007-2009 global financial crisis as well as country-specific crises. The results suggest that sovereign ratings have a statistically significant impact on the flow of FDI to EMs and that the BRICS countries as a bloc exert a statistically significant contagion impact on the FDI inflows into the three regions examined. We also find that the impact of sovereign ratings change on FDI inflows increases in crisis times, both country-specific, as well as the global financial crisis.
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