How to Measure Financial Inclusiveness?
Measuring and comparing access can be challenging because there are no readily obtainable indicators of access and different countries and institutions may define financial access differently. However, in order for policymakers to understand the impact of access to financial services and to design effective policies to improve access, it is very important to measure access and identify the barriers to access. In 2005, the World Bank published indicators of financial access and updated them in 2008. In measuring financial inclusiveness, the Bank focused on the groups that are involuntarily excluded from financial services due to discriminatory lending policies, lack of the contractual or informational framework, or inadequate price and product (see figure 1). Those who have access to financial services but choose not to use them (voluntary excluded) do not require policy action. Figure 1. Distinguishing between Access to and Use of Financial Services Source: World Bank (2008). Finance f
