Financial inclusion and economic development in Iraq 2003 - 2019

This study aims to measure the level of financial inclusion and indicates its importance in enhancing the level of sustainable economic development in Iraq during the period (2003 – 2019), where the concept of financial inclusion, its importance and objectives and its level in Iraq were discussed, and the challenges facing it are examined, in addition to an assessment and analyze its importance in promoting sustainable economic development in Iraq. The study relies on the descriptive analytical method in the theoretical aspect, while the practical aspect related to the standard study is used in it by using a series of temporal data, to test the hypotheses of the study, determine the relationship between the study variables and build a multiple linear regression model that shows the relationship between the independent variables represented by In (bank deposits, number of ATMs, number of bank branches, population growth, and inflation rate), which express financial inclusion, and the dependent variable represented in the gross domestic product, which expresses sustainable economic development, using the statistical program EViews mainly to apply all Statistical and standard methods. The study concludes with a set of results, the most important of which is the instability of the economic growth rate, as it fluctuates between high and low and negative in some years of study, reaching an annual average of 8.56% during the study period. This extreme fluctuation in the rate of economic growth does not contribute to promoting sustainable economic development. The results also show the weak ability of banks to attract bank deposits, which means a weak degree of financial inclusion, as the average annual growth rate reached 1.11% during the study period. The results also indicate a long-term relationship that goes from the independent variables to the dependent variable. The study comes out with several recommendations, the most important of which is that the Central Bank of Iraq encourages Iraqi banks to provide banking services via the Internet, mobile and ATMs, and urges banks to own electronic wallets, with awareness campaigns to educate customers financially. In addition to urging government and private banks to improve and develop their electronic services in proportion to the consumer to attract the largest number of users, encourage the flow of foreign funds and increase the sources of financing the economic development process. The study also recommends the need to provide the consumer with all the necessary information at all stages of their dealings with providers of financial and banking services, and to make greater efforts to protect the consumers to ensure that they obtain banking services with ease and at appropriate prices.