Digital financial inclusion: A gateway to sustainable development

Abstract

The covid-19 pandemic revolutionises digital financial services, and hence digital financial inclusion is essential to ensure everyone can access digital financial services and thus promote sustainable economic growth. The development and activities promoting digital financial inclusion must align and help attain 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the pandemic is anticipated to increase the usage of digital financial services, it has also created challenges for certain countries. Hence, a systematic literature review explores digital financial inclusion across countries. This research finds that developing countries, mainly Asian countries, embrace and improve digital financial inclusion to help reduce poverty. However, the results indicate that in developing countries, a persistent divide exists between gender, the wealthy and the poor, and urban and rural areas regarding access to and usage of digital financial services. At the end of the study, we propose a few recommendations, focusing on improving digital infrastructure, simplifying the complicated banking procedures, and stressing the importance of financial education, enabling the smooth implication of digital financial inclusion across countries.