Financial inclusion and private sector development in ECCAS countries

The objective of this study is to analyse the effect of financial inclusion on the development of the private sector in ECCAS countries. It considers a panel of eight (08) countries over the period 2005 - 2019. The data used are secondary and come from the World Development Indicators database. A regression using the fixed-effects method reveals, on the one hand, that available gross savings as a percentage of GDP has a positive effect on private gross fixed capital formation as a percentage of GDP and, on the other hand, that domestic credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP has a positive effect on private gross fixed capital formation as a percentage of GDP. All in all, therefore, financial inclusion has a positive and significant effect on the development of the private sector in the eight ECCAS countries considered. It is therefore of the utmost importance to promote savings and access to credit on a large scale in order to finance the development of the private sector in the ECCAS countries, which will of course lead to economic growth.