Financial Inclusion – One Step Closer To The Eurozone?

Factors leading to financial exclusion are primary linked to shortages of financial resources, high costs for financial services, distrust in financial institutions, and lack of financial education. Financial inclusion of the population can sustain economic monetary and financial stability by taking efficient saving and investing decisions or by boosting the performance of an economy. In a responsible financial system, people can safely save money without fearing losing it as a result of fraud, theft, or operational errors, can conduct financial transactions, can take a loan for consumption or for investing in personal development or business idea with a proper understanding of the terms and conditions, and they can insure themselves against any kind of risk. Considering that financial exclusion leads to social exclusion, the need to establish institutions that can offer marginalized categories of the population access to different financing means is obvious, especially in rural areas. People can use financing for self-employment or for implementing entrepreneurial ideas that can generate new jobs and revenue for the community. This paper adds to the existing literature in identifying the existing relations between financial inclusion and economic growth and further investigates if an increase in the level of financial inclusion has an impact on achieving the convergence criteria and therefore entering the Eurozone.