Financial Inclusion
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Public Disclosure Authorized Europe and Central Asia Economic Update Office of the Chief Economist Spring 2019 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized WORLD BANK ECA ECONOMIC UPDATE SPRING 2019 Financial Inclusion Office of the Chief Economist © 2019 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved 1 2 3 4 22 21 20 19 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. 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ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-1409-9 DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-1409-9 Cover design: Lauren Kaley Johnson Contents Acknowledgments ............................................................... v Abbreviations ................................................................... vii Regional Classification Used in this Report ............................................ ix Executive Summary ............................................................... xi PART I: Economic Outlook . 1 1 The Global Context . 3 Overall Trends ............................................................... 3 Europe and Central Asia: Recent Developments and Outlook .......................... 7 Annex: Data and Forecast Conventions ............................................ 14 References ................................................................... 15 2 Financial Inclusion in Europe and Central Asia . 17 Why Does Financial Inclusion Matter? ............................................. 17 Growth in Account Ownership Is Uneven in Europe and Central Asia .................... 18 Inequality in Account Ownership Is High in Parts of the Region ......................... 20 Who Remains Unbanked in Europe and Central Asia? ................................ 24 Lack of Trust in Banks Is a Major Barrier to Account Ownership ......................... 25 Use of Accounts for Payments Is Increasing in the Region’s Developing Economies ......... 27 Use of Digitalized Accounts Is Also Rising .......................................... 28 Informal Saving and Borrowing Is Prevalent in Developing Economies of ECA ............. 32 Digital Technology Provides Opportunities to Enhance Financial Inclusion ................ 39 Policy Makers Can Increase Account Ownership and Use in Various Ways ................. 40 Future Directions of Our Work ................................................... 41 Annex: Survey Methodology. 42 References ................................................................... 44 Part II: Selected Country Pages . 45 Albania ...................................................................... 47 Armenia ..................................................................... 49 Azerbaijan ................................................................... 51 Belarus ...................................................................... 53 Bosnia and Herzegovina ........................................................ 55 Bulgaria ..................................................................... 57 Croatia ...................................................................... 59 Georgia ..................................................................... 61 Kazakhstan ................................................................... 63 Kosovo ...................................................................... 65 Kyrgyz Republic ............................................................... 67 Moldova ..................................................................... 69 Montenegro .................................................................. 71 North Macedonia ............................................................. 73 Poland ...................................................................... 75 Romania ..................................................................... 77 iii iv ● World Bank ECA Economic Update Spring 2019 Russian Federation ............................................................ 79 Serbia ....................................................................... 81 Tajikistan .................................................................... 83 Turkey ...................................................................... 85 Turkmenistan ................................................................. 87 Ukraine ...................................................................... 89 Uzbekistan ................................................................... 91 Boxes 2.1 Financial inclusion in Turkey: Insights from the 2017 Global Findex Survey ........... 26 2.2 Financial inclusion in the European Union: Insights from the 2017 Global Findex Survey ........................................................... 39 Map 2.1 Account ownership varies significantly across the world .......................... 19 Figures 1.1 Global economic outlook ................................................. 4 1.2 Long-term economic challenges facing Europe and Central Asia ................... 12 2.1 Account ownership in Europe and Central Asia varies widely by subregion ........... 20 2.2 The gender gap in account ownership persists ................................. 22 2.3 The gender gap in account ownership varies widely within Europe and Central Asia ... 22 2.4 Inequality in account ownership remains high in Turkey .......................... 24 2.5 The income gap in account ownership remains large in some countries in Europe and Central Asia ............................................................ 25 2.6 The share of adults making or receiving digital payments ranges from 25 to 83 percent in Europe and Central Asia ................................................ 29 2.7 Use of a mobile phone or the Internet to access an account varies widely within Europe and Central Asia .................................................. 31 2.8 Percent of online buyers paying in cash and online in total population .............. 33 2.9 Formal saving is more common in high-income economies than in developing economies ............................................................. 34 2.10 The share of adults who saved formally savings was low in most developing economies in Europe and Central Asia ................................................ 35 2.11 People in high-income countries rely on formal sources for borrowing, whereas people in developing countries tend to rely on family or friends ......................... 36 2.12 Informal borrowing is prevalent in most developing economies in the region ......... 37 2.13 Financial resilience is much higher in high-income countries than in developing economies ............................................................. 38 2.14 People in developing economies of Europe and Central