Financial Inclusion Profile: Socio-Economic Determinants, Barriers, and the Reasons for Saving and Borrowing in Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is one of the least financially inclusive countries in Asia. To understand the reasons, this paper examines the Socio-economic determinants, the barriers to financial inclusion, and the reasons for individuals saving and borrowing. We used GFI 2017 data, and the Probit technique to estimate the coefficients. The results show that female and age group reduce the likelihood of being financially included while education level and high income increase their likelihood. Furthermore, voluntary exclusion such as religious beliefs, and involuntary exclusion such as lack of documents, trust deficits, and someone else having an account are found significant for different demographic groups. Significant coefficients are found for saving for old age and borrowing for medical and business. The findings of this study are valuable for policymakers in Pakistan to initiate innovative approaches to enhance the excluded groups and focus on the removal of reasons for financial exclusion in Pakistan.