Theme/Relevant Ministry:

INDUSTY/ COMMERCE:
M/o Industries and Production; M/o Commerce and Textile Industry

Project Brief:

The current study is motivated to evaluate the firm Export performance and financial inclusion nexus. To best of our knowledge, there is scant literature concerning the firm export performance & financial inclusion with special focus on Pakistan. Unlike prior studies on financial inclusion of firm that used limited Financial variables to investigate firms’ export performances. Assessment for Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan contributes empirically as it is based on a rich panel data set of 8400 balance sheets. The study has strong implications for policy making because greater financial inclusion leading to better export performance may play a key role for achieving the sustainable development for Pakistan.

Motivated by the existing gap in the literature, this study is designed to investigate the interplay between the financial deepening of the firms and their export performance. The study will test this nexus using data from 427 manufacturing firms in Pakistan. However, the firm’s will be categorised and picked based on their export targeting during the analysis phase of the study because all of the listed firms may not be involved in exports.

Public Policy Relevance:

Since the financial system of Pakistan has passed through number of developmental phases, the proposed study will be relevant and contributory at policy level to investigate the impact of firm’s financial inclusion on firm’s export performance. Another contribution of this study at policy level will be that the entire focus of on-going National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS-2015 till date) is on individual’s financial inclusion where the consideration to the financial inclusion of firms is entirely missing.