Supply-Side Data And Measurement For Financial Inclusion: A Case Study Of Namibia

ABSTRACT

Appropriate measurement, data and information are crucial pillars in facilitating the

design of financial inclusion policies and interventions. The lack of reliable data is a

barrier to financial inclusion and related evidence based policy making in developing

nations. Whereas substantial work has been done on the gathering of demand-side

financial inclusion information in Namibia through the FinScope consumer surveys of

2007 and 2011, comparatively less has been done on compiling the required supply side

data. The purpose of this study is to develop the supply-side measurement and data

required to support financial inclusion in Namibia and propose an appropriate

framework of supply-side measurement and data in Namibia.

A qualitative method is employed in this study with the case study strategy being to

target the supply-side financial inclusion actors in Namibia including the commercial

banks, specialized financial institutions, and registered non bank financial institutions as

well as the regulatory authorities. The technique used for data collection is document

analysis of annual reports, records and other publications of the identified institutions. A

developed descriptive framework is used to organize the case study analysis with the

content analysis being performed with the aid of the qualitative analysis software

ATLAS.ti 7. The ideal financial inclusion measurement landscape, obtained using the

International Finance Corporation analytical framework, is compared with the actual

landscape to identify gaps in measures.

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The main study findings are that there is a lack of supply-side measures pertaining to

usage, quality and impact perspectives of financial inclusion. It was also found that

some financial inclusion policy objectives did not have corresponding indicators by

which they could be consistently monitored and evaluated. The identified gaps are

incorporated in a proposed framework. The study concludes that the current financial

inclusion supply-side data and measurement in Namibia is inadequate to support

evidence based policy making and monitoring and evaluation of financial inclusion

programmes in Namibia and that an appropriate framework such as that proposed in this

study would substantially improve the situation.