Review of Financial Inclusion and Access to Energy in West Africa

Background: This study examined the relationship between financial inclusion and energy access in West Africa, using panel data from seven countries in the region, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal. Methodology: The study employed dataset from the World Bank Development Indicators between 2004 and 2019 where Panel Fixed effect were used to estimate the relationship between energy access and financial inclusion. Specifically, the study estimated access to electricity as a function ATM per 100,000 adults, Bank accounts per 1,000 adults, and domestic credit to the private sector. Findings: The study did not found a strong evidence to conclude that financial inclusion improves access to energy in West Africa. In particular, of all the variables used to measure financial inclusion only ATM per 100,000 adults proved to have a positive relationship with access to energy while the other variables had no impact on access to energy.