The Determinants of Financial Inclusion among Social Cash Transfer Beneficiaries in Lusaka District

Abstract:

The main purpose of this study was to examine the determinants of financial inclusion among social cash transfer beneficiaries in Lusaka District. Use of various banking services like savings behaviour, credit payments, remittance, financial literacy and frequency of withdrawals are the multiple levels in financial inclusion. Hence in this study other dimensions of financial inclusion were used such as deposits, insurance services, investment in stocks and government bonds were also considered. The results of this study was characterised by low banking levels and insurance policy uptake with no investment in stocks and government bonds but with high use of village banking among social cash transfer beneficiaries. Additionally, most of social cash transfer beneficiary households are engaged in village banking or informal financial relationships among themselves which may not be guaranteed as safe and reliable and there is need to integrate the informal and formal financial markets because the volume of informal activity among social cash transfer beneficiaries is far greater than that of organised financial institutions. Furthermore, non-affordability and lack of financial education were found to be closely related to financial exclusion. Hence the efforts at financial education put in place by financial institutions and improving the income levels for social cash transfer beneficiaries can promote financial inclusion.