Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2021.1989319
Socio-Economic development and sustainable development goals: a roadmap from vulnerability to sustainability through financial inclusion
Muhammad Umer Niaz
Sažetak
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the importance
of poverty reduction, and call for policy implementation that
leads to the socio-economic development of impoverished people. However, there is a lack of knowledge about assessing individual-level socio-economic development, and how financial
inclusion through microfinance can contribute to it. Therefore, the
role of commercially operated Microfinance Banks (MFBs) is also
considered to be controversial in the literature. This study
assesses the overall socio-economic development by considering
different sustainable livelihoods, multidimensional poverty, living
standards, and social development measures. Thus, the
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), and Living Standard Index
(LSI) have been estimated to gauge poverty and improvements in
living standards. Data comprising 503 customers of MFBs, and
500 control respondents, has been gathered through a survey to
signify this impact for two years. This paper substantiates that the
microfinance obtained from MFBs contributes positively towards
sustainable livelihoods, multidimensional poverty reduction, and
living standards. However, microfinance does not contribute to
social development. Impoverished people, mainly women living in
urban areas, reap more benefits from microfinance, than their
rural counterparts. Overall, financial inclusion shall be a gateway
to achieve the SDGs in the long run through the socio-economic
development of an impoverished segment of the society.
Ključne riječi
Financial inclusion; socioeconomic development; microfinance; multidimensional poverty; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Hrčak ID:
302506
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.3.2023.
Posjeta: 640 *