02186cas a2200229 a 4500 AALejournalIMF014258 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781475569681 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Assessing Countries' Financial Inclusion Standing : A New Composite Index. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2014. 1 online resource (31 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper leverages the IMF's Financial Access Survey (FAS) database to construct a new composite index of financial inclusion. The topic of financial inclusion has gathered significant attention in recent years. Various initiatives have been undertaken by central banks both in advanced and developing countries to promote financial inclusion. The issue has also attracted increasing interest from the international community with the G-20, IMF, and World Bank Group assuming an active role in developing and collecting financial inclusion data and promoting best practices to improve financial inclusion. There is general recognition among policy makers that financial inclusion plays a significant role in sustaining employment, economic growth, and financial stability. Nonetheless, the issue of its robust measurement is still outstanding. The new composite index uses factor analysis to derive a weighting methodology whose absence has been the most persistent of the criticisms of previous indices. Countries are then ranked based on the new composite index, providing an additional analytical tool which could be used for surveillance and policy purposes on a regular basis. Mode of access: Internet IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2014/036 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2014/036/001.2014.issue-036-en.xml IMF e-Library