Banking Services and Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This chapter seeks to investigate the inclusive development implications of banking services in Sub-Saharan Africa; employing panel data for 47 economies over the period 2000–2017. Using a suite of panel estimation strategies, the study tests the hypothesis that the banking sector promotes inclusive development especially in economies where corruption levels are low. The evidence reveals that banking services and corruption controls are citadels of inclusive development in Africa. However, banking sector development and control of corruption do not produce positive synergy effects on inclusive development. The results remain robust to the inclusion of important control variables and different measures of inclusive development. These findings imply that the promotion of banking sector development and control of corruption are important strategies for attaining inclusive development in Africa.