Financial inclusion, sustainability and sustainable development

Given the growing interest in financial inclusion, the possibility of integrating financial inclusion into the sustainability and sustainable development agenda needs to be explored. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to establish a link between financial inclusion, sustainability and sustainable development. The paper used discourse analysis to establish a link between financial inclusion, sustainability and sustainable development. It was argued that financial inclusion contributes to sustainable development by ensuring that access to basic financial services is guaranteed in a sustainable way, and basic financial services are provided in a sustainable way and based on sustainability principles to yield lasting impact for sustainable development. This approach links financial inclusion to sustainable development through the adoption of sustainability principles in offering basic financial services to banked adults. The paper also argued that financial inclusion is more relevant for the economic dimension and social dimension of sustainable development because financial inclusion improves the economic conditions and social welfare of banked adults while it only provides limited benefits for the environmental dimension of sustainable development. There is a need for a merger between financial inclusion and sustainable development based on sustainability principles. This will require polices that integrate financial inclusion to the sustainable development agenda