Financial Inclusion and Its Potential for Sustainable Development: Evidence from Syrian

The nexus between financial inclusion and sustainable development is intensifying. Data-based evidence in a global context supports a positive correlation between financial inclusion and sustainable development. In the post-conflict Syria, it is crucial to scrutinize the level of the sustainable development and financial inclusion to highlight the required efforts to accelerate the sustainable development. Accordingly, the aim of this article is to explore how financial inclusion can be capitalized upon to improve the achievement of the sustainable development goals, particularly decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), and reduced inequalities (SDG 10). Based on an exploratory study, the article investigates the status quo of financial inclusion and sustainable development goals and uncovers a modest level of financial inclusion as proxied by financial institutions access despite a clear improvement in the number and value of e-payment transactions. In addition, it highlights a positive association between e-payment development and sustainable development goals (8 and 10) indicating that developing e-payment systems is a necessary condition but is not sufficient to boost economic growth and reduce inequalities. A national framework is proposed to improve and unify the efforts towards the achievement of those SDGs. In particular, capitalizing on digital credit, microinsurance, and FinTech solutions such as crowdfunding and digital currencies is critical to speed up the achievement of sustainable development goals. Moreover, this article stresses the need to pay special attention to raise the financial literacy among Syrians and provide proper regulation of innovative financial services to unleash the full potentials of financial inclusion while minimizing its possible negative consequences.