In this study, we provide evidence on the impact of access to formal savings on household well-being in The Gambia. Specifically, we study how access to formal savings can impact household outcomes such as total spending, ownership of durable assets, health spending, and education spending. Using a representative household survey and kernel ridge regression method, we find that household access to formal savings has a positive and statistically significant impact on all outcomes except health spending. Furthermore, we find that the largest effect size of access to savings is on education spending. However, the impact estimates on education and food expenditure are not very robust to a mild presence of hidden bias. Overall, we find a robust impact for total spending and asset ownership. Hence, increasing household access to formal savings can improve household well-being in The Gambia. 1 | INTRODUCTION More access to financial services is seen as a medium through which economic growth can be catalysed in many countries. However, in developing countries, especially fragile and conflict-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), access to financial services like formal savings is still low. According to the Global Findex report 2017 by Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, Ansar, and Hess (2017), only 27% of adults in these places own a formal financial account. This has attracted a lot of interest to understand what the barriers to access to finance are and whether access to finance can promote household welfare. On the latter, the existing rigorous evidence, albeit limited, shows that it is possible for access to formal savings to produce a positive welfare impact on households, thereby promoting economic growth and development (see, for example, Ghirmay, 2004; Kouki, 2013). A recent study by Ibrahim and Aliero (2020) reveals that it can also reduce income inequality. As a result, the promotion of savings has become a focal part of the global agenda to promote financial inclusion of the poor as a means for achieving the 2030 Agenda: The G-20 Financial Inclusion Action Plan and the Maya Declaration championed by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) are examples of such global initiatives meant to increase access to finance (Roy & Fellow, 2012). In The Gambia, despite the proliferation of bank and nonbank financial institutions in the past decade, a huge proportion of the population does not have access to formal financial services such as basic savings accounts. Our estimates indicate that just about 21% of households in the country have access to formal means of savings, which is much below the African average of 34% (see Global Findex by Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, & Van Oudheusden, 2015). Lack of availability of financial service providers in areas predominantly occupied by the poor still remains a challenge in The Gambia. Currently, about 12 commercial banks are operating in the country, but they operate mostly in the urban and

No abstract

No abstract

Mobile money has been heralded as a way to foster financial inclusion. While it has become popular in developing countries, most notably in African nations, there are still strong barriers to its adoption and usage. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which a lack of information and high prices are limiting factors in the adoption of mobile money. We implemented a simple randomized controlled trial among a group of difficult-to-access potential users: mobile phone users in The Gambia who had opened mobile money wallets but had not made a transaction. We offered meaningful price discounts on withdrawal charges, and made these discounts salient by reminding users about them every month for a period of six months. Our analysis measures different dimensions of mobile money use by drawing from administrative mobile phone company records. We also carried out a posttreatment survey to gauge knowledge about, and attitudes towards, mobile money. Our results indicate that treated individuals were substantially more aware than controls about the uses of mobile wallets and about the meaningful discounts of 15% and 30% offered. However, only a small fraction of treated individuals started using mobile wallets, and the difference was not statistically significant. Perceptions of safety, trust in the platform, and service reliability were not significantly different between treated and controls. However, treated individuals were more likely to perceive the service charges to be expensive. We interpret this as evidence that our population of interest was uninformed about the platform at large. While our treatment increased awareness about its capabilities and operation, potentially fostering its adoption, it also increased awareness of the relatively high fees it involves, which in turn limited usage. Both a lack of information and high prices need to be addressed to foster the adoption and usage of mobile money in developing countries.

The study investigated Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) as a service provider and the welfare of pensioners in The Gambia. This was with the view to determining the effect of Federated Pension Scheme (FPS) at SSHFC on the welfare of pensioners in the country. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected through questionnaire administration and policy documents. The population of the study was 3383 respondents which comprised pensioners and administrative staff who were responsible for managing pensions at SSHFC. Using proportionate-to-size sampling technique, a sample size of 345 respondents was selected and contacted for questionnaire administration. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data obtained from the questionnaire while content analysis was used to analyse the documentary data. The findings revealed that the regulatory frameworks for SSHFC i.e., FPS, lacks the necessary components such as Project 59, and a provision to review the computation formula to ensure adequate pensioners’ welfare from SSHFC. Also, the findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between the welfare of pensioners and the Federated Pension Scheme services provided by SSHFC in The Gambia. The study concludes that FPS has a positive effect on the welfare of pensioners in country.