Female Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development in MENA Countries

Oueslati, Karim; Mgadmi, Nidhal; Moussa, Wajdi; Regaïeg, Rym

doi:10.22059/ier.2024.333250.1007309

Female Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Development in MENA Countries

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Karim Oueslati ¹

Nidhal Mgadmi ²

Wajdi Moussa ³

Rym Regaïeg ³

¹ IPAG Business School, Paris, France

² Department of Quantitative Methods, Faculty of Economics and Management of Mahdia, University of Monastir, Tunisia

³ Higher Institute of Management of Tunis, SEPAL Lab., Tunis, Tunisia

10.22059/ier.2024.333250.1007309

Abstract

This paper tries to examine the effect of Microfinance on sustainable development in a group of Middle East and North African countries (MENA). Can we consider Microcredits are performing instruments for sustainable development in MENA countries? To answer this question, we chose a period from 1990 to 2018, and a sample of 10 MENA countries was selected. In the empirical analysis, we examined the linear fit of this long-term relationship within an error correction (ECM) model. We found that micro-financial institutions will correct 67% of sustainable development imbalance as the speed of adjustment brings this imbalance back to a stable state in the long term. Subsequently, we adopted the GMM method to determine the dynamics of sustainable development. Our results showed that women's participation in economic life in the MENA region does not have a significant impact on sustainable development. The research paper advises ending the gender disparity in employment, which will enhance women’s likelihood of gaining access to formal financial services. It also advises boosting women’s financial education which will lead to strengthening their financial capacities. This advice will help to reach sustainable development at the country’s level.

Keywords

ECM Model

Female

MENA Countries

Microfinance

Sustainable Development

Subjects

Econometrics

Adegbite, O. O., & Machethe, C. L. (2020). Bridging the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap in Smallholder Agriculture in Nigeria: An Untapped Potential for Sustainable Development. World Development, 127, 1-36.

Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations. The Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277–297.

Ben-Eli, M. (2015). Sustainability: Definition and Five Core Principles a New Framework. A Sustainability Laboratory Publication, Retrieved from http://www.sustainabilitylabs.org/assets/img/SL5CorePrinciples.pdf.

Cabeza-Garcia, L., Del Brio, E. B., & Oscanoa-Victorio, M. L. (2019). Female Financial Inclusion and Its Impacts on Inclusive Economic Development. Women Studies International Forum, 77, 1-8.

CAPMAS, NCW & UNFPA. (2015). The Egypt Economic Cost of Gender-Based Violence Survey. ECGBVS, Retrieved from https://egypt.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Costs%20of%20the%20impact%20of%20Gender%20Based%20Violence%20%28GBV%29%20WEB.pdf.

Care. (2020). Gender Implications of Covid-19 Outbreaks in Development and Humanitarian Settings. Retrieved from https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/media/k2/attachments/CARE_Gender-implications-of-COVID-19_Full-Report_March-2020.pdf.

Care. (2020). Rapid Needs Assessment Impact of COVID‐19 on Vulnerable Populations in Jordan. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/report/jordan/rapid-needs-assessment-impact-covid-19-vulnerable-populations-jordan-urban-areas.

Demirguc-Kunt, A., Klapper, L., Singer, D., Ansar, S., & Hess, J. (2020). The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution. World Bank Economic Review, 34(1), 1-20.

Everest-Phillips, M. (2014). Small, So Simple? Complexity in Small Island Developing States. Singapore: UNDP Global Centre for Public Service Excellence. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/GPCSE_Complexity%20in%20Small%20Island.pdf.

Farazmand, A. (2018). Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. New York: Springer International Publishing.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. (2019). 2018/2019 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report. Retrieved from https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-20182019-womens-entrepreneurship-report.

Haussman, R., Tyson, L., & Sahidi, S., (2010). Global Gender Gap Report. World Economic Forum, Geneva. Working Paper, Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2010.

ILO. (2020). Incidence of Part-time Employment by Sex. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/shinyapps/bulkexplorer54/?lang=en&segment=indicator&id=EMP_PTER_SEX_RT_A.

---------- (2019). ILO Modelled Estimates, Population, and Labor Force. Retrieved from https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/ilo-modelled-estimates/.

---------- (2018). Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (3^rd Ed.). Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/dgreports/dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_626831.pdf.

---------- (2017). World Social Protection Report 2017-19: Universal Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_604882.pdf.

IMF. (2019). Enhancing the Role of SMEs in the Arab World -Some Key Considerations. Retrieved from https://www.imf.org/~/media/Files/Publications/PP/2019/PPEA2019040.ashx.

ITU. (2019). Measuring Digital Development. Retrieved from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/FactsFigures2019.pdf.

Kuliga, S. F., Nelligan, B., Dalton, R. C., Marchette, S., Shelton, A. L., Carlson, L., & Hölscher, C. (2019). Exploring Individual Differences and Building Complexity in Wayfinding: The Case of the Seattle Central Library. Environment and Behavior, 51(5), 622–665.

Lélé, S. M. (1991). Sustainable Development: A Critical Review. World Development, 19(6), 607–662.

Levin , A., Lin, C., & Chu, C. J. (2002). Unit Root Tests in Panel Data: Asymptotic and Finite-Sample Properties. Journal of Econometrics, 108(1), 1-24.

Littig, B., & Griessler, E. (2005). Social Sustainability: A Catchword between Political Pragmatism and Social Theory. International Journal of Sustainable Development, 8, 65-79.

Im, K. S., Pesaran, M. H., & Shin, Y. (2003). Testing for Unit Roots in Heterogeneous Panels. Journal of Econometrics, 115, 53-74.

Mensah, J., & Enu-Kwesi, F. (2019). Implication of Environmental Sanitation Management in the Catchment Area of Benya Lagoon in Ghana. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 16(1), 23-43.

Milne, M. J., & Gray, R. (2013). W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(1), 13–29.

Mndolwa, F. D., & Alhassan, A. L. (2020). Gender Disparities in Financial Inclusion: Insights from Tanzania. African Development Review, 32(4), 1-15.

Mossman, M. (2015). Moving Beyond Microcredit. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/moving-beyond-microcredit.

OECD. (2019). SIGI 2019 Global Report: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1787/bc56d212-en.

---------- (2020). Women at the Core of the Fight against COVID-19 Crisis. Retrieved from https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=127_127000-awfnqj80me&title=Women-at-the-core-of-the-fight-against-COVID-19-crisis.

Ritchie, H. A. (2017). Towards Inclusion and Integration? Syrian Refugee Women’s Fragile New Livelihoods in Jordan. Working Paper, Retrieved from https://securelivelihoods.org/wp-content/uploads/Towards-inclusion-and-integration_Syrian-refugee-womens-fragile-new-livelihoods-in-Jordan.pdf.

Saith, A. (2006). From Universal Values to Millennium Development Goals: Lost in Translation. Development and Change, 37(6), 1167-1199.

Sakyi-Nyarko, C., Ahmad A. H., & Green C. J. (2022). The Gender-Differential Effect of Financial Inclusion on Household Financial Resilience. The Journal of Development Studies, 58(4), 692-712.

Saner, R., Yiu, L., & Nguyen, M. (2020). Monitoring the SDGs: Digital and Social Technologies to Ensure Citizen Participation, Inclusiveness and Transparency. Development Policy Review, 38, 483–500.

Schaefer, A., & Crane, A. (2005). Addressing Sustainability and Consumption. Journal of Macromarketing, 25(1), 76–92.

Scopelliti, M., Molinario, E., Bonaiuto, F., Bonnes, M., Cicero, L., De Dominicis, F., Fornara, F., Admiraal, J., Beringer, A., Dedeurwaerdere, T., de Groot, W., Hiedanpää, J., Knights, P., Knippenberg, L., Horvat, K. P., Popa, F., Porras-Gomez, C., Smrekar, A., Soethe, N., Vivero-Pol, J. L., van den Born, R., & Bonaiuto, M. (2018). What Makes You a ‘Hero’ for Nature? Socio-psychological Profiling of Leaders Committed to Nature and Biodiversity Protection across Seven EU Countries. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61(5-6), 970-993.

UN Women. (2020a). Covid-19: Gendered Impacts of the Pandemic in Palestine and Implications for Policy and Programming. Retrieved from https://www2.unwomen.org/.

---------- (2020b). Gender-Sensitive Prevention, Response and Management of COVID-19 Outbreak in Libya. Retrieved from https://www2.unwomen.org/.

---------- (2020c). Impact of COVID-19 on Women-Led Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Palestine. Retrieved from https://www2.unwomen.org/.

UNESCO. (2019). UIS. Stat. Retrieved from http://data.uis.unesco.org/ .

UNESCWA. (2019). Social Protection Reform in Arab Countries. Retrieved from https://www.unescwa.org/sites/www.unescwa.org/files/escwa-covid-19-economic-cost-arab-region-en.pdf .

UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP. (2020). Multi-Sectoral Rapid Needs Assessment: COVID-19–Jordan. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Multi-Sector%20Rapid%20Needs%20Assessment%20Findings%20-%20UNHCR%20WFP%20UNICEF%20May%202020.pdf.

UNICEF. (2020). Middle East and North Africa Region COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/mena/media/8061/file/MENA%20SitRep_COVID%2019%20-%201_31%20March%202020.pdf%20.pdf.

United Nations Report. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Retrieved from https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/139811.

Vegas, E. (2020). School Closures, Government Responses, and Learning Inequality around the World during COVID-19. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/school-closures-government-responses-and-learning-inequality-around-the-world-during-covid-19/.

Vo, D. H., Nguyen, N. T., & Thi-Hong Van, L. (2020). Financial Inclusion and Stability in the Asian Region Using Bank-Level Data. Borsa Istanbul Review, 21(1), 36-43.

World Bank. (2019a). Vulnerable Employment, Female (% of Female Employment). Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/sl.emp.vuln.fe.zs.

---------- (2019b). World Development Indicators. Retrieved from https://databank.worldbank.org/data/source/world-development-indicators.

---------- (2018). The Cost of Gender Inequality: Unrealized Potential: The High Cost of Gender Inequality in Earnings. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/.