TY - BOOK ID - 133403895 TI - How Equitable is Access to Finance in Turkey? : Evidence from the Latest Global FINDEX AU - Azevedo, Joao Pedro. AU - Inan, Osman Kaan. AU - Yang, Judy S. PY - 2016 PB - Washington, D.C. : The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Access to Finance KW - Banks and Banking Reform KW - Benchmarking KW - Debt Markets KW - Economic Theory & Research KW - Emerging Markets KW - Equity KW - Finance and Financial Sector Development KW - Human Opportunity Index KW - Macroeconomics and Economic Growth KW - Poverty KW - Private Sector Development UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:133403895 AB - Access to finance is a key component of poverty reduction, as it enables individuals to make economic decisions that can improve their welfare. The equality of access among different groups in society is also crucial for correctly allocating the positive benefits of improved financial services. In Turkey, bank account, debit card, and credit card ownership, which can serve as the main indicators of access to finance, are at a remarkably high level. However, adjusting the coverage rate of these indicators by controlling for age, education, gender, an income reveals that gender is the main source of inequality in Turkey at the individual level. Despite the progress made in addressing the gender disparity in access to finance between 2011 and 2014, females in Turkey continue to be financially less included. Moreover, Turkey's low level of savings and high rate of informal borrowing compared with its peers diminish individuals' resilience to future shocks. Promisingly, Turkey has been able to improve its rate of savings significantly over the past few years, although it continues to be among the countries that save at a lower level. ER -