Download Proceedings of Annual Spain Business Research Conference

Survey
yes no Was this document useful for you?
   Thank you for your participation!

* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project

Document related concepts
no text concepts found
Transcript 
Proceedings of Annual Spain Business Research Conference
26 - 27 May 2016, Novotel Barcelona City Hotel, Barcelona, Spain,
ISBN: 978-1-925488-05-0
Assessing Financial Inclusiveness in the Philippines - A
Regional Index
Tatum Blaise Tan1
The study gauges the state of financial inclusion in the country by constructing
a multi-dimensional index of financial inclusion (IFI) on a regional basis for the
period 2011-2014. The modifications employed in deriving the index
improveits general and analytical comparability and allowfor better capture of
the country’s financial landscape. Using two different sets of IFI, the study
consistently finds that over the past four years the country’s financial
inclusiveness has improved—marked by a higher index and fewer regions in
the low IFI category. The results subsequently highlight the persistently low IFI
regions that are lagging behind in financial development and utilization of
financial services, particularly Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, and
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Moreover, several regions are
“under-banked,” as indicated by the low values recorded in the usage
dimension vis-à-vis the other dimensions of financial inclusiveness (i.e., bank
penetration andavailability of financial services)primarily because of weak
credit availment, generally dragging the index down. In addition, the difference
in the simple and per capita weighted averages reveals more financial
exclusion on a geographic perspective and hints of a bias to highly urbanized
regions. Lastly, the paper finds positive correlation between regional financial
inclusiveness in the Philippines and regional GDP, income, and urbanization.
JEL Codes: G21, G200, O16
Keywords: Financial inclusion, Index of Financial Inclusion, Financial and Economic
Development, Philippines
1
Ms. Tan is currently with the Department of Economic Statistics of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP). The author is grateful to Director Rosabel Guerrero, Mr. Fernando Silvoza, Ms. Teresita
Deveza, Ms. Fe Canillas, Mr. Jeremy De Jesus, Ms. Jean Christine Armas, and her colleagues at the
BSP for their suggestions and support. The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the BSP. Any errors and omissions are the
responsibility of the author.Email: [email protected]; contact number: (+632) 708-7224
Related documents