Financial inclusion, poverty and growth in Africa: can institutions help

The study examines the role of institutions in explaining long-run effect of financial inclusion on poverty levels and economic growth in Africa. Dynamic panel regression of 42 economies over the 2011-2018 period to show that institutional quality is robust in the financial inclusion-growth nexus as well as financial inclusion-poverty reduction linkage. We report that countries with strong institutions reap the dividends associated with financial inclusion by slashing down poverty and improving per capita GDP. The findings are robust to the use of five different measures of financial inclusion - deposit, access to credit, number of bank branches and ATM access.