Searching: Research & Analysis

Humanitarian Cash Transfers and Financial Inclusion

Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan receive more than one quarter of their humanitarian assistance in the form of cash and vouchers. Leveraging this aid delivery to connect refugees to the formal financial system requires the host country to have widespread digital financial ecosystem in place and coordination among governments, aid agencies, and financial service providers.

Jordanians and Syrian Refugees: Remittances and Financial Services Use

How do you increase financial inclusion when the most vulnerable and financially excluded part of your population becomes host to a massive, even more vulnerable, and even less financially included group of refugees? Building on a quantitative survey, this research shows that for financial services to work for refugees, they also need to work at scale in-country.

Paving the Way for Digital Financial Services in Jordan

As more customers turn to formal financial services, remittances will have an even stronger developmental impact, especially in countries with large numbers of people displaced by humanitarian crises. This report examines the financial ecosystem and regulations in Jordan for international remittances, domestic payments and mobile money.

Financial Inclusion Measurement in the Arab World

This paper explores the landscape of measuring financial inclusion in the Arab world. The Arab Monetary Fund and its task force is working with CGAP, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and GIZ, among others, to advance measurement of financial inclusion in the Arab world.

Understanding Demand for Sharia-Compliant Loans

This Brief explores the findings and their implications from the study in Jordan. While the results are only valid for the Jordanian market, if similar studies were done elsewhere, we may begin to see a clearer picture of demand for sharia-compliant services.

Highlights from the 5th Arab Policy Forum

This paper presents highlights of the 5th Arab Policy Forum, which convened more than 70 policy makers to work toward a common vision for achieving more inclusive—and more equitable—financial systems in the region.

Lessons Learned from the Moroccan Crisis

This Brief outlines lessons learned from the rise, fall, and ongoing recovery of the Moroccan microcredit sector that may be useful when adapted in other countries in similar situations.

Can Postal Networks Advance Financial Inclusion in the Arab World?

As existing and trusted institutions with large branch networks reaching rural areas, Arab postal networks have the potential to be powerful tools in the fight for greater financial inclusion in the Arab World.

CGAP-MIX 2009 Arab Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report

This report provides a comprehensive view of the performance of the microfinance sector in the Arab region, beginning with a 2006-2008 study of scale and outreach trends with a sample of 35 microfinance institutions (MFIs) and a special focus on the microfinance sector crisis in Morocco, the only country to register a decrease in outreach in 2008.

Growth and Vulnerabilities in Microfinance

This Focus Note distills lessons from four microfinance markets: Nicaragua, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and Pakistan. These countries have all experienced a microfinance repayment crisis after a period of high growth and are important microfinance markets in their respective regions.