Determinants of Youth Financial Inclusion in MENA Countries: Account Holding versus Fintech Use

Why youths in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries lack financial inclusion before and during the pandemic and what are the determinants of their financial inclusion? We design three pooled households’ samples including youths aged 15-34 from Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia for 2014, 2017 and 2021. Two probit regressions address financial inclusion regarding account holding at banks or other financial institutions and digital services (fintech) they provide. We highlight five main results. Before the pandemic (i) the financial inclusion of young entrepreneurs is affected by their (female) gender, (middle) income, (low) education level and country policy. During the pandemic, (ii) women became more financially included; (iii) there was no age gap for fintech; and (iv) despite the fact that digital services have improved, they remain unsuitable for poorly educated youth. (v) Gender has no effect on the financial inclusion of young employees before and during the pandemic.