Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

This state of play paper provides a brief overview of the global potential market scope
of refugees, and review the progress to improve access to finance by refugees in the past few years. Remaining barriers are briefly described, including policy clarity, relevant information, legal barriers, and funding.

This paper sets out to investigate and establish the role of microfinance banks in attaining inclusive growth through financial inclusion and poverty alleviation in Nigeria. The study employed utilitarian social welfare function and descriptive statistics to measure the viability of inclusive growth through financial inclusion and poverty alleviation in Nigeria. The study also developed a unified macro measure of inclusive growth, which integrates growth and income distribution into one single measure. Results show that there is low financial inclusion in Nigeria which suggests that financial inclusion in Nigeria plays almost insignificant role to economic growth. Results also show that Nigeria=s economic growth is not inclusive since the core indicators of poverty alleviation are found to be abysmally low. The paper also found that loan-to-deposit ratio and equity index have increased in the last two years. This implies that functional microfinance banks have the potential to alleviate poverty in the foreseeable future. As a result, it is a good strategy of financial inclusion and poverty reduction in Nigeria. It is this study=s believe that if microfinance banks discharge their duties very well by providing the poor with increased self-employment opportunities and making them creditworthy, then the issue of inclusive growth would be a thing of the past.

ABSTRACT

Kasekende (2003) in the Uganda context defines an SME as an enterprise or a firm employing less than 100 employees with values of assets excluding land, buildings and working capital of less than USD30,000 and an annual income or turnover of USD 6000-30,000. SMEs play an important role in the economy of many developing countries, Uganda inclusive. They are important in the promotion of economic growth, job creation and mitigation of poverty (Rogerson, 2001 a). Much as they play an important role, SMEs are dogged by many problems which affect their performance. They are faced with both internal and external challenges. The internal challenges include poor record keeping, human resource capacity gaps, poor management and governance, low asset base and a weak working capital position, among others.


The external challenges include lack of effective policies in support of SMEs development, lack of developed value chains to ensure efficient utilization of resources and lack of reliable financing mechanism to support SME development yet most of them are in the agriculture sector which is the backbone of the Uganda economy. A study of 60 SMEs involved in various sectors was conducted in the Central. Eastern, Northern, Westnile, Western and Southwestern regions of Uganda using an interviewer guide questionnaire. The findings show that SME challenges are not only limited to lack of access to finance , but also governance, lack of government support, limited strategic alliances, human resource capacity gaps, lack of innovation and risk management, high taxes and poor record keeping.

This paper argues that microfinance in south Asia, like mainstream finance in North America and Europe, "has lost its moral compass". Microfinance institutions have increasingly focused on financial performance and have neglected their declared social mission of poverty reduction and empowerment. Loan officers in the field are under enormous pressure to achieve individual financial targets and now routinely mistreat clients, especially poor women. The values of neo-liberal mainstream finance in the rich world have spread to microcredit in the villages of Bangladesh and India. This situation is hidden from western publics who are fed the lie of "the magic of microfinance" by their media, guided by the needs and interests of mainstream finance seeking to provide some "good news" about the financial sector as scandal after scandal unfold. Urgent action is needed, particularly from the leaders of the microfinance industry, to refocus their organisations and workforce on achieving both financial and social performance targets.

This thesis paper aims to study microfinance operations in Bangladesh. Besides, the study examines Islamic microfinance activities in general. Qualitative methods and secondary data have been used in this study. Since independence, Bangladesh has seen many ups and downs in its economy. In this context, it is notable that the country's per capita income has exceeded around two thousand US dollars in recent years. All the indicators of GDP growth are going upward.  The overall economic growth is more than 7% consistently. This study has found that, with the development of microfinance services in Bangladesh since the 1980s, the poverty rate has been decreased, and significant results have been observed.  The poverty rate declined gradually since 1991, which was 57% in 1991, decreased to 21% until 2018. Microfinance has an essential place in the economic growth of Bangladesh. By the end of 2018, microfinance institutions have $ 7.17 billion in outstanding annual loans and collected 10.46 billion in the form of paid loans within approximately 31.20 million members. Over the past two decades, Islamic microfinance (IMFs) has been a socio-economic development approach along with traditional microfinance in many countries. This thesis paper concludes that Islamic microfinance plays a vital role in poverty reduction with aid financing tools such as zakat and charity. Islamic microfinance institutions also offer micro-credit by means of various mechanisms based on the principles of sharia such as Karz-i-Hasan, Murabaha, Mudaraba, Takaful, Ijarah, and Salam. Moreover, Islamic microfinance is supporting the strengthening of the economy by financing entrepreneurs and sharing possible risks. Therefore, there is a significant potentiality for Islamic microfinance in achieving the 2030 SDGs.

The study was carried out to examine the impact of financial literacy of business owners in
Lilongwe old town markets on business performance. More specifically, the study addressed the
effect of financial literacy on performance of businesses in Lilongwe old town markets. The
researcher used a descriptive research design. A sample of 45 businesses was selected using
stratified random sampling technique. The study population was stratified as hardware
businessmen, clothes sellers, general retail traders and others. The study employed questionnaires
to collect data from the field. Data was typeset using a computer to ease preparation of the report.
Data was then tabulated and presented using descriptive statistics. The results of the research
indicate that more performing businesses employs more than three permanent employees, have
been in business for more than five years, has an annual revenue growth of more than 10% and are
basically financial literate. Secondly the researcher establishes that a positive strong effect of
financial literacy on businesses performance exists. Finally the researcher report urges the
providers of various financial literacy programs to consider implementing a program which fits
the culture and traditions of the context targeted and avoid one size fits all because different
businesses have different experiences. The government should focus more on the secondary
education where technical and vocational training should be done to develop artisans,
entrepreneurs and managers for the informal sector in both rural and urban areas.

Credit cycle management is an important activity within the microfinance industry that cannot be overlooked in any organization (especially MFI) engaged in the business of lending money. A well-structured and sound credit cycle management is a prerequisite which is able to attain stability, continued profitability and long term sustainability. The specific objective of the study was to determine the effects of credit risk control measures on financial performance of Micro-finance Institutions in Kenya. The study adopted descriptive research design and the target population for this study included the operation officers working on the credit department and the management of all the 12 branches of Yehu Microfinance in Kenya. The sample size for the study included 80 respondents. The main data collection tool was a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done by use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Measures of central tendencies like average, frequencies, percentages and standard deviations were employed. Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used to test the relationship between variables in the study hypotheses. There was a significant positive relationship between credit risk control measures employed by microfinance institutions in Kenya and their financial performance. The study concluded that imposing loan size limits was a viable strategy in credit management, regular credit checks enhanced credit risk management and the use of customer credit application forms improved monitoring and credit risk management.

This paper frames social finance in its broadest terms as an alternative to traditional corporate responsible practice, highlighting the significance and potential of social finance in mobilising financial resources for global social development. This paper explains social finance as an approach employing financial resources drawn from "the market" to generate positive social impacts which can, depending on instruments, also deliver financial returns. Despite hitherto forms of capitalism generating economic asymmetry, there is an urgent need for a more equitable financial mobilisation through innovative finance. Such a need has generated a paradigm shift in the corporate sector where actors in the private sector are increasingly using a variety of instruments to utilise private money for public good - social finance. We have so far seen corporate responsible business practices, yet with innovation and multi-sectoral partnerships, it can potentially bring the most significant change that has yet to be witnessed globally.

This policy brief intends
to address the shortcomings of the statistical approaches
in systematically responding to high quantity
victimisation, and argues for greater consideration of the
individual stories of victims in the process of making justice.

Starting its journey in 2011, mobile banking, commonly referred to as mobile financial services (MFS), has demonstrated phenomenal growth in Bangladesh. The MFS sector now has about 15 million registered users transacting over BDT 80 billion (US$ 1.0 billion) per month through over 500,000 agents. In 2013, the number of registered MFS users grew at about 12 per cent each month, with a CAGR of 266%. Meanwhile, cash transactions grew at a CAGR of 186%. In the month of March, the average daily money transaction amount through mobile banking reached unprecedented levels – registering over BDT 4.0 billion (US$ 51 million). According to Bangladesh Bank data, the total transactions for the month rose to BDT 123 billion.The remarkable development of MFS is better appreciated in the context of the country’s demographic/socioeconomic statistics: a potential market of 160 million people, median age of only 23 years, and per capita income of US$ 840 per annum. The key statistics, however, are a banked population of 20% (i.e., those that have access to formal banking services) and secondly, a mobile penetration of 75%. Thus, the availability of MFS has allowed the unbanked in Bangladesh to skip several stages of development of the banking sector, e.g., setting up of physical branches, and gradually enter the global community of the banked.

This synthesis diagnostic study seeks to narrow the information gap by providing insights from available sources about the foreign-born populations in Lebanon from the perspective of an FSP considering to expand services to these populations. The study is a summary of an in-depth market assessment conducted as part of a 4-month technical
assistance project co-funded by the Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF) , the Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND), and IBDAA Microfinance SAL, Lebanon.

Microfinance has a mission to alleviate poverty through two bottom lines, namely financial intermediation and social intermediation. Nevertheless, there has been mission drift-from poverty reduction through the provision of microcredit services to the poor to a commercial mission to pursue profitability, leaving the poor in their activities; in addition, there has been a trade-off between the outreach to the poor and financial sustainability. This paper is a literature review that aims to obtain an effective conceptual model of Islamic microfinance institutions in Indonesia by using an intermediation approach. The results of the literature review show that the triple intermediation approach (i.e. social, financial and spiritual intermediation) conducted simultaneously by Islamic microfinance institutions (Baitul Maal wattamwil) can be an effective model for keeping Islamic microfinance institutions on their mission to alleviate poverty by providing micro-finance services to even the poorest customers, thus keeping their business profitable, and also remaining true to Islamic principles.

Microfinance is a powerful poverty alleviation tool. It implies provision of financial services to poor and low-income people whose low economic standing excludes them from formal financial systems. Access to services such as, credit, venture capital, savings, insurance, remittance is provided on a micro-scale enabling participation of those with severely limited financial means. The provision of financial services to the poor helps to increase household income and economic security, build assets and reduce vulnerability; creates demand for other goods and services; and stimulates local economies. A large number of studies on poverty however, indicate that exclusion of the poor from the financial system is a major factor contributing to their inability to participate in the development process. In a typical developing economy the formal financial system serves no more than twenty to thirty percent of the population. The vast majority of those who are excluded are poor.

Cette étude a principalement pour objectifs d’appréhender l’environnement du Mobile Money au Congo d’une part, et d’autre part de décrire et d’analyser les représentations et les pratiques des utilisateurs de ces services financiers passant par le téléphone mobile. Il est également question de savoir si le Mobile Money est un lieu éventuel d’inclusion financière. Si les utilisateurs de ces services financiers mobiles mettent généralement en avant le faible coût des frais de transfert d’argent, c’est parce que jusqu’à présent, ces services financiers sont essentiellement utilisés pour effectuer des transferts et des retraits d’argent. En effet, ils sont de plus en plus utilisés pour assurer le transfert d’argent entre les différentes villes du pays, mais aussi entre les villes et le milieu rural. Et de ce point de vue, ils apparaissent comme des nouveaux concurrents Au-delà du sentiment d’insécurité que certaines personnes expriment –et donc ressentent- face aux transactions financières mobiles, il apparaît que ces nouveaux services financiers qui séduisent les gens plus que les banques classiques, soient sur la voie de jouer un rôle dans le sens de la démocratisation de l’accès aux services financiers en RD Congo.

The scourge of unemployment has been identified as one of the greatest challenges facing young people around the world, with growing sentiment inclining towards micro-enterprises as a solution, however access to capital is a significant impediment facing youth in the creation and growth of small businesses. This research paper investigates how the Kurera-Ukondla micro-finance youth development fund has helped youth micro-enterprise owners in Harare, Zimbabwe, to develop their small businesses. Access to credit is shown to be important when it comes to creating new enterprises. This study enhances the discussion on micro-finance for micro-enterprises because it considers the impact from a youth economic development perspective instead of the typically general view. It also highlights the feedback from the micro-finance fund staff and participants by following participatory programme evaluation methods.
The researcher targeted 228 micro-finance beneficiary youths in Harare Province who had obtained finance from the Kurera-Ukondla Youth Fund. A random sampling approach was used to pick respondents from the cluster. Primary data were obtained using a self-administered pretested structured and semi-structured interview questionnaire. Secondary data were obtained from published books, journal articles and various reports by the fund managers – CABS Building Society and the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment. Analysis was undertaken using descriptive statistics.
The study showed that the micro-finance project had a minimal effect on the number of youth enterprises; although uptake of the Fund was high, this did not translate to depth. However a positive effect of the micro-finance project on youth micro-enterprise productivity in the short term was noted. The study recommends that more enterprise development services be availed in a holistic manner alongside micro-finance for youth businesses, namely business and technical skills training, mentoring, and market linkages. It also urges future researchers to explore the optimal methods and structures for youth funding.

Key words
Micro-finance, Entrepreneurship, Youth, Enterprise Development, Small Business, Financial Inclusion

Achieving high levels of financial inclusion has been a policy priority for policy makers in many countries as policy makers seek to reduce the level of financial exclusion to low levels. There have also been increased interest in financial inclusion research by academics. This paper proposes some index and ratios of financial inclusion and financial exclusion. The proposed index, measures and ratios are easy to compute and are comparable across countries. Policy makers, analysts and academics will find it useful.

Financial inclusion is an excellent tool for empowerment of farmers. The current study examines the level of financial inclusion and study the association between various demographical variables and financial inclusion among the farmers. A survey of 360 farmers across Prayagraj district was conducted, this survey found that 71.4% of farmers had his bank accounts while 23.6% of farmers were actively using their bank accounts in past 3 months and only 10.6 % of farmers were taken loan from banks or other formal financial institutions. The survey shows that farmers were financially inclusion: as 72.8% have poor financial inclusion, 19.2% have fair financial inclusion, and only 8.1% have sound financial inclusion. The farmers had not sufficient financial literacy. Further analysis shows that gender is not associated with degree of financial inclusion while other demographic variables i.e. education qualification, family income, age group and size of landholding is closely associated wit...

Financial inclusion is an excellent tool for empowerment of farmers. The current study examines the level of financial inclusion and study the association between various demographical variables and financial inclusion among the farmers. A survey of 360 farmers across Prayagraj district was conducted, this survey found that 71.4% of farmers had his bank accounts while 23.6% of farmers were actively using their bank accounts in past 3 months and only 10.6 % of farmers were taken loan from banks or other formal financial institutions. The survey shows that farmers were financially inclusion: as 72.8% have poor financial inclusion, 19.2% have fair financial inclusion, and only 8.1% have sound financial inclusion. The farmers had not sufficient financial literacy. Further analysis shows that gender is not associated with degree of financial inclusion while other demographic variables i.e. education qualification, family income, age group and size of landholding is closely associated with degree of financial inclusion.

As far as India's Company Act of 2003 is concerned, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a mandatory initiative in India. As many people are deprived of the core finance services, microfinance like financial inclusive programmes are the real panacea to get them up to a financially matured level. The CSR act in India insists every company to render 2% of its profit for the socially viable activities which is fairly viable for financial inclusion. Therefore, CSR is just an innovated venture of microfinance. It will lead to the proper financial inclusion, if the CSR provisions are conducted as per the ruling. This study focuses on the CSR rule in India and its impact on financial inclusion as an innovative tool of microfinance.

The research revolves around the buzz word " Fintech " (financial technology). The term Fintech is not new to the world but now it has gained greater weightage in financial system for becoming cashless and branchless in need of being cost effective. The major intention of research involves studying recent developments in Fintech, role of technology in micro finance delivery model, vital distribution technologies for financial inclusion and challenges arouse due to technology. The present research paper is conceptualized and is based on secondary data collected from various resources like books, journals, newspapers, blogs and various websites. Fintech has extensive application in inclusive financial goal accomplishment. The shifting trend in financial system is quite evident. Conventional banking technologies, when applied innovatively, have played a significant role in reducing costs and increasing outreach and penetration of the microfinance model. Management Information Systems (MIS), Point of Sale technologies (POS), Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and smart cards are among the major technologies that have entered microfinance over the years from the formal financial sector. Transformation from brick and mortar driven financial institutions to mobile/e-banking is apparently beneficial in increasing outreach. Besides, vast implication of Fintech in financial inclusion there exist restrains too. Though the challenges are tough but it needs to be addressed along with the changing trend at the same pace. The conclusion is theorized and constructed on secondary data; it could have been more valid if based on primary data. It contributes in adding understanding of public and policy makers towards role of technology in providing inclusion directed financial services. The study also reveals the effectiveness of Fintech in financial inclusion programs. INTRODUCTION Financial Technology (fintech) refers to the use of software and digital platforms to deliver financial services to consumers. These digital tools often disrupt established business models by creating new and efficient means of providing services.In the context of financial inclusion, fintech holds boundless potential. As new tools and technologies are developed, and old business models are challenged, financial services can be provided with greater speed, accountability, and efficiency.Access to financial products and services is becoming more attainable than ever, especially for consumers that live in rural locations or regions without the structures of a modern economy. Not only can fintech make these products and services more accessible, it can also make them more affordable by lowering the cost of doing business for the financial institution, a savings which can be passed on to the consumer. Club this with the near abundant availability of affordable mobile phones and cellular networks, and a world where no one is excluded from the financial system may not be that far out of reach.(ACCION) In 2016, India was ranked 3rd among 55 countries across the world in having the most enabling environment for financial inclusion. Since 2009, the public and private sector have worked together to set up an ecosystem that enables the delivery ofdigital financial services to low income households across urban and rural areas. By using mobile phones, innovative digitalfinancial services have been launched in more than 80 countries (GSMA 2014) to address the issues of exclusion. " Digital financialinclusion " can be defined as digital access to and use of formal financial services by excluded and underserved populations. Suchservices should be

According to Global Financial Development Report 2014, the proportion of adult population holding bank accounts in 25 out of 48 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries surveyed stands below 20 %. Part of the reason is Muslims’ voluntary exclusion of interest-based financial services. On average, 28 % adults in the OIC countries hold a bank account at a formal financial institution. On the other hand, only 7.7 % of the poorest 40 % people in the OIC countries borrow from financial institutions. Furthermore, in the OIC countries, like Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Chad, Sudan, Syria, Mozambique, Gambia, and Iraq, microfinance outreach are not even catering to the 1 % of the poor people in these countries. In 26 out of 36 OIC countries where sufficient data are available, we find that not even 10 % of the poor people are under the microfinance radar. Thus, this presents a challenge as well as an opportunity for Islamic banks to increase their outreach toward fostering inclusive finance in the OIC countries.

As it leads to greater respect, independence, and involvement for women both, inside and outside their homes and in the
workplace, microfinance plays a significant role in empowering society and the country at large. More in-depth definitions
of microfinance may be found on this page. A microfinance institution provides financial services (loans, savings, and
insurance) to individuals and small businesses on a small scale to people and small businesses, particularly those with
low or moderate incomes, as defined by the World Bank. In developing countries, providing small business owners with
low-interest loans with a low monetary value is one of the most widely used strategies for assisting them in their efforts
to lift themselves out of poverty. Micro-loans are loans with a low economic value that are given to small business owners.
Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) provide loans and savings services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are
made possible through a range of funding techniques. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide services to small and
medium-sized businesses (SMEs) leading to economic development and social development. As a result of having access
to these services, the idea holds that the poor’s financial position will become more stable, predictable, and secure over
time. Through education, healthcare, and self-determination, individuals will be able to better plan for their futures and
enhance their livelihoods in the process. Microfinance may also be utilized to assist individuals in achieving their financial
independence. The high capital cost in microfinance is highlighted as one of the reasons leading to high-interest rates in
the industry. Apart from traditional lending sources, microfinance providers may also get loans from commercial banks,
which lend to Microfinance Institutions at market rates.
Keywords: Economic Development, Microfinance, Social Development.
Adhyayan: A Journal of Management Sciences (2021); DOI: 10.21567/adhyayan.v11i2.

El objetivo principal de esta investigación es proponer una nueva metodología para la clasificación de las Sociedades Cooperativas de Ahorro y Préstamo (SOCAPS) de México que refleje de manera más eficiente su situación financiera, con la finalidad de que los ahorradores y el organismo supervisor del sector cuenten con información más confiable acerca de su solidez, y, de esta manera, el ahorro de los usuarios de estas entidades se encuentre más protegido. Para ello, se adaptó el F-score de Piotroski (2000) al contexto de las SOCAPS de México, con lo que se evalúan tres áreas de las SOCAPS por medio de ocho indicadores, los cuales, permiten obtener una calificación que refleja la fortaleza financiera de estas instituciones; y, con base en esas calificaciones, segmentarlas de acuerdo con su solidez financiera. Esta metodología se utilizó para analizar y clasificar a 156 SOCAPS de México, y comparar el puntaje de las que mantuvieron sus operaciones durante el periodo de análisis, con el de las que cerraron sus operaciones. De esta forma, se comprobó que las SOCAPS con mayor temporalidad tienen en promedio una calificación mayor que el grupo de SOCAPS que dejó de operar, con lo que puede concluirse que la metodología propuesta es eficaz como criterio de clasificación que sirva para emitir alertas de riesgo, medidas prudenciales e informar a los usuarios sobre la solidez de la institución en la que deposita su patrimonio.

With the rapid influx and demise of multiple microfinance institutions in Afghanistan, clients are seeking reliable institutions that they can trust for financial services. BRAC Afghanistan is well-positioned to offer more products that respond to the financial needs of their clients as one of the oldest MFIs in the country. BRAC can leverage their large existing client base to offer a range of savings products that would not only build customer loyalty, but also diversify their funding base.

Microfinance today constitutes a gendered frontier of global capital, targeting working class women for small loans through commercial microfinance institutions (MFIs). Drawing on ethnography and interviews with for-profit MFIs in India and their clients, this study aims to understand the mechanisms through which microfinance shapes gendered subjectivities at the outer edge of the global financial system. Through training programs that often accompany microloans, MFIs encourage clients to identify as working mothers who are primary caregivers for their children, but are also engaged in productive work through microenterprise or waged work. This identity serves MFIs—and global finance more broadly—by leveraging motherhood as collateral, while also ostensibly “empowering” women by encouraging them to provide for their families though work and loans. A few exceptional, well-off clients see value in the teachings of these training programs, and are celebrated by MFIs, but many more ignore or reject such programs, insisting that they are “only” housewives or mothers. Better off women, then, may be more “vulnerable” to MFI discourses aiming to transform them as individuals. Clients’ widespread dismissal of MFI empowerment programs also suggests that MFIs, far from having totalizing power, must be beholden to women who use the loans for their own purposes, while “declining” the models of gendered subjectivity on offer. Thus, the expansion of the global financial system, which requires cooperation from working class women on both material and ideological fronts, may be a contested, uneven process, rather than a linear process of “financial inclusion.”

The main purpose of this paper is introducing an index that allows for a general overview of Mexico’s municipalities in terms of financial inclusion. The index is calculated using principal component analysis on variables related to the measurement of the levels of access and usage of financial services, financial education, consumer protection and social development. Subsequently, all municipalities are ranked by an estimated degree of inclusion performing hierarchical cluster analysis. Results show that 36% of Mexico’s municipalities possess a high level of financial inclusion while 29% the lowest. Municipalities with higher income and better education benefit from the services that financial institutions offer, yet millions are still excluded from the financial system.

Microfinance is a powerful poverty alleviation tool. It implies provision of financial services to poor and low-income people whose low economic standing excludes them from formal financial systems. Access to services such as, credit, venture capital, savings, insurance, remittance is provided on a micro-scale enabling participation of those with severely limited financial means. The provision of financial services to the poor helps to increase household income and economic security, build assets and reduce vulnerability; creates demand for other goods and services; and stimulates local economies. A large number of studies on poverty however, indicate that exclusion of the poor from the financial system is a major factor contributing to their inability to participate in the development process. In a typical developing economy the formal financial system serves no more than twenty to thirty percent of the population. The vast majority of those who are excluded are poor.

In Nigeria, studies in structural transformation and sectoral interdependencies, particularly, employing time series data, rebased to the same and current basis are limited. The recent economic rebasing exercise, which has made available time series data needed for this kind of analysis provides some motivation to investigate these phenomena. Meanwhile, there have been conjectural discussions on 'dwindling marginal productivity of labour', despite year-on-year economic growth in the past few decades. This suggests that, while productivity decline was evident in some sectors of the economy, there were more than proportionate and compensatory productivity increases in some other sectors of the economy, albeit less visible, to warrant aggregate growth outcome. Consequently, this research attempts to understand labour productivity distribution across the major sectors of the economy and investigates the transitions in marginal productivity of labour and the reallocation of economic activities and resources among the major sectors of the Nigerian economy during the growth period of the past few decades in order to determine sectoral interdependencies and structural transformation. Vector error correction model (VECM) econometric tool was used to investigate sectoral interdependencies, while non-parametric methods were used to unravel structural transformation. The results revealed sectoral interdependencies and a transformation of the economy from production sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, mining and quarrying to services sectors, which include, retail and wholesale trade, information communications technology, financial services, administration and social services. The administration and social services sector has assumed more than proportionate importance in employment, whereas, it has the least productivity with negative implications for the overhead cost of governance. Government should design and implement policies to realign resources allocation optimally.

المخلص
تعرض هذه الورقة اهمية دور الدولة في تنظيم ودعم سوق متناهي الصغر التي تمارس النشاط خارج القطاع المصرفي، حيث ظهر بوضوح ان هناك فئات مهمشة وتعاني من الاقصاء المالي والائتماني، وذبك في ظل عزوف القطاع المصرفي عن تقديم خدماته لهذه الفئة للقلة الضمانات لديهم وحجم المخاطرة.
وعلى المستوي الوطني لا يوجد أدني شك حول اهمية وضع برنامج للشمول المالي على المستوى الوطني في دعم الاستقرار المالي للدول وتأثيراتها السلبية على الاستقرار الاقتصادي والمالي والاجتماعي والسياسي، فقدمت الدولة جهود مضنية متتالية لتنظيم السوق الى ان استقرت علي دمج نشاط الجمعيات والمؤسسات الاهلية والشركات العاملة في السوق تحت اشراف الهيئة العامة للرقابة المالية المنوط بها الاشراف والرقابة وتنظيم وتنمية سوق الخدمات المالية غير المصرفية.
وتُمثلت مُشكلة البحث فُي التساؤل هل ساعد الاطار التنظيمي والتشريعي في مصر على تمكين مؤسسات المجتمع المدني مُن ايصال الخدمات المالية الى فُئات المجتمع كُافة وبتكلفة مناسبة، وُهل تُمكنت مُن تُحقيق نُسب مُرتفعة لُمؤشرات الاشتمال المالي، واستهدف البحث التعرف على طبيعة عمل مؤسسات التمويل متناهي الصغر وتسليط الضوء على دور الدولة وحمايتها للمنظومة من خلال الاطر التنظيمية والتشريعية واتاحة قنوات التمويل لهذه المؤسسات للقيام بدورها في تعزيز معدلات التنمية والوصول الى الفئات المهمشة ماليا والاقل حظا والتعرف على بعض التجارب الدولية والقاء الضوء طبيعة مراحل تطور الاطار التنظيمي والرقابي للتمويل متناهي الصغر وكذلك طبيعة الضوابط التنظيمية والتشريعية التي تنظم ممارسة انشطة الاقراض والتمويل متناهي الصغر، والافاق المستقبلية لقطاع التمويل متناهي الصغر وفرص تعزيز نموه وانتشاره، وتركزت حدود البحث في مؤسسات التمويل متناهي الصغر غير المصرفية المرخص لها مزاولة نشاط التمويل متناهي الصغر من الهيئة العامة للرقابة المالية.
وعند البدء في اعداد نتائج البحث والتوصيات تم تناول تداعيات جائحة فيروس كورونا على سوق التمويل متناهي الصغر، من خلال التعمق في التنبؤ بالآثار الاقتصادية المحتملة وسبل تعزيز ودعم الجهات العاملة في السوق وهيئة الرقابة المالية، ثم تناول البحث يعض التوصيات لتعزيز نمو السوق بانتشار أعمق واوسع للنشاط.
الكلمات المفتاحية
مصر، الشمول المالي، التمويل متناهي الصغر

Abstract
This study outlines the important role of the country in regulating and supporting microfinance market that practices activities away from banking sector. It is evident that there are marginalized categories suffering from financial and credit exclusion as the banking sector is reluctant to provide its services to this category because of the few guarantees they have and the amount of risk.
At national level, there is no doubt that it is important to develop a program for financial inclusion nationally in support of financial stability of countries and for minimizing microfinance market negative effects on economic, financial, social and political stability. The country has made effortless consecutive efforts to regulate the market. It decided to merge the activities of associations, private institutions and companies operating in the market under the supervision of the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority, which is charged with supervising, auditing, organizing and developing the non-banking financial services market.
The problem of the study was the question whether the regulatory and legislative framework in Egypt helps with enabling civil society institutions to deliver financial services to all categories of society at an appropriate cost, and if they achieved high rates of financial inclusion indicators. The aim of this study was to identify the nature of the work of the micro finance institutions and highlight the role of the country to protect the system through the regulatory and legislative frameworks and by making funding channels available for these institutions to play its role in promoting development rates and reaching out to the marginalized and financially disadvantaged categories. Further it aimed to identify some international experiences and shed light on the nature of stages of development of the regulatory and supervisory framework of microfinance as well as the nature of regulatory and legislative controls that regulates the practice of lending activities and microfinancing. The study also features the future prospects of the microfinance sector and the opportunities of promoting its growth and expansion. The study focused on non-banking micro finance institutions that are licensed to engage in microfinance activity from the Financial Supervisory Authority.
While getting prepared to outline the results and recommendations of the study, the implications of the Corona virus pandemic on the microfinance market were examined by predicting potential economic impacts and ways to enhance and support market entities and the Financial Supervisory Authority. The study then provided some recommendations to promote market growth by spreading the activity widely and vastly.
Keywords
Egypt, financial inclusion, microfinance

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