L'inclusion financière en Afrique subsaharienne : faits stylisés et déterminants

Abstract

L’inclusion financière favorise le développement économique en permettant à une part croissante des ménages et des PME d’accéder à une large palette de services financiers pour un coût raisonnable. Elle apparaît la plus faible en Afrique subsaharienne (AfSS) et en particulier en Zone franc, tant en termes de bancarisation, d’intensité d’utilisation des comptes bancaires que d’accès au crédit. La prévalence de l’exclusion financière en AfSS reflète des facteurs structurels provenant tant des insuffisances de l’offre (coût, gestion des asymétries d’information), de la demande des services financiers (revenus et éducation financière, phénomènes d’auto-exclusion) que de l’environnement réglementaire et du climat des affaires. L’inclusion financière implique, comme tout développement des activités financières, de nouveaux risques pour la stabilité financière et donc un renforcement des réglementations et de la supervision bancaire de façon à ce que la confiance du public et l’accès croissant aux services financiers aillent de pair avec une croissance économique stable et durable. Classification JEL : G21, G28, O16, O55.

Financial Development and Income Inequality in the Selected Southern African Development Community Countries

“…The findings are in line with findings of Honohan (2004) and Naceur and Zhang (2016) who discovered a negative and highly significant correlation between the number of bank accounts and the inequality levels, which is testament to the hypothesis that financial inclusion can also reduce banks' concentration and further lower intermediation costs. These results may explain Guerineau and Jacolin, (2014)'s suggestion that Sub-Saharan Africa (and SADC by extension) is the region with few bank branches, with hardly four bank branches for every 100 000 people. In the region bank branches are usually focused in the largest cities as result the degree of financial inclusion tends to be low.…”

Determinants of Financial Inclusion in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Countries

“…We can thus analyze determinants of financial inclusion in two ways: through the country characteristics or through the individual characteristics of households or individuals. Analyzing this issue in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, Guerineaun & Jacolin (2014) show that, from a supply-side view, the following factors contribute to weak banking: excessive banking concentration, the density of banking infrastructure, and the extent of information asymmetries between banks and their potential customers. In terms of demand, it is the low level of GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa and the Franc Zone countries and the lower level of education (financial and general) that contribute to the low rate of banking.…”

Financial Inclusion, Bank Concentration, and Firm Performance

“…Empirical estimates show that, above thresholds ranging from 80% to 110% of private credit in GDP, the positive finance/growth link disappears and a case for "too much finance" may be made (Arcand, Berkes, and Panizza, 2015). Turning to developing countries, beyond caveats stemming from the large size of the informal sector (Guérineau and Jacolin, 2014), the question has been, conversely, to determine whether there is a case for "not enough finance" where undersized financial sectors, usually bank-led with little or no financial market development, play virtually no role in boosting economic growth, let alone corporate growth or productivity (Henderson, Papageorgiou, and Parmeter, 2013;Méon and Weill, 2010;Deidda and Fattouh, 2002). Rioja and Valev (2004) find that in countries with a share of private credit in GDP lower than 14%, financial development has little effect on economic growth.…”