Asiamah Theodora A, Steel William F, Ackah Charles
School of Sustainable Development, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, Ghana.
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Heliyon. 2021 Oct 13;7(10):e08162. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08162. eCollection 2021 Oct.
This paper investigates the determinants of and trends in credit demand and credit constraints of households with respect to both formal and informal financial institutions in Ghana. Trends and explanatory factors over 1992-2013 using pooled data from four Ghana Living Standards Surveys are analysed using the Heckman Probit model. Estimates for the full population reveal that tertiary education is a significant determinant of both credit requests (positively) and credit constraints (negatively). In the rural population, household heads that were widowed or separated and those that lived below the poverty line are more likely to request credit and also more likely to experience credit constraints. In the urban population, the aged are less likely to request credit but more likely to experience credit constraints. The policy implication is that financial inclusion measures targeted to people living below the poverty line, the widowed and separated in rural communities are needed to respond to their relatively high demand for credit services and overcome their exclusion from access to credit that could help in generating income to reduce poverty. The sex of a household head is significant for binding credit constraints in the full population and the urban sample, but not significant in the rural sample. Surprisingly, the study finds a decline in the proportion of households requesting credit in the full population as well as rural and urban areas, indicating increasing self-exclusion.
本文研究了加纳家庭对正规和非正规金融机构的信贷需求及信贷约束的决定因素和趋势。利用来自四项加纳生活水平调查的汇总数据，采用赫克曼概率模型分析了1992 - 2013年期间的趋势和解释因素。对全体人口的估计表明，高等教育是信贷申请（正向）和信贷约束（负向）的一个重要决定因素。在农村人口中，丧偶或分居的户主以及生活在贫困线以下的户主更有可能申请信贷，也更有可能面临信贷约束。在城市人口中，老年人申请信贷的可能性较小，但面临信贷约束的可能性较大。政策含义是，需要针对农村社区中生活在贫困线以下的人群、丧偶者和分居者采取金融包容措施，以应对他们对信贷服务相对较高的需求，并克服他们被排除在信贷获取之外的情况，这有助于创造收入以减少贫困。户主的性别在全体人口和城市样本中对约束性信贷约束具有显著影响，但在农村样本中不显著。令人惊讶的是，研究发现全体人口以及农村和城市地区申请信贷的家庭比例有所下降，这表明自我排除现象在增加。
