Measuring Finance Access: An Enabler for Sustainable Development in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Development of the financial sector is an important component in achieving the micro-foundations of wealth creation and economic development of a country. An increasingly relevant component in this relationship relates to the issue of financial access which leads to financial inclusion, which, in turn, leads to better living standards and plays a very important role in achieving sustainable development. The chapter in its present form is an attempt to measure financial access and use of financial services in the Sultanate of Oman from 2010 to 2017. The financial access is measured on two parameters: Geographic and Demographic; enabling the measurement of the banking outreach in terms of branch and ATM expansion. The use of financial services is measured in terms of number and size of deposits and loans extended in the Sultanate. This exercise will help to gauge Oman’s progress in terms of financial access and use of financial services and also help in understanding the efforts made by Oman to achieve sustainable development goals.

Keywords: Financial access, banking outreach, financial services usage, sustainable development