Paper Title
Comparing Financial Inclusion Levels Between French-Speaking and English-Speaking Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract
In the past two decades, many governments, especially in the global south have acknowledged the importance of financial inclusion. Arguably, the African continent seems to have been left behind in that regard. However, with research showing that about three quarter of African population owning a phone with internet connection used for e-commerce and mobile payment among others, the continent has started to catch up. The purpose of this paper is to establish whether there is any difference in financial inclusion between French and English-speaking countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study used the 2021 Global Financial Index data collected by the World Bank for their report on financial inclusion across the world. Binary logistic regression using Chi-Square tests and cross tabulations were employed to analyse data. The results revealed that a significant proportion of English-speaking countries have a higher financial inclusion rate than the French-speaking countries. The implication of the study is that French-speaking countries should do more to raise the level of their population financial inclusion by creating more favourable conditions for that to become a reality for most if not all. The originality of this study is that it probesdifferences in financial inclusion by countries’ colonial heritage which studies in Africa have not been doing. Keywords - Financial inclusion, Sub-Saharan Africa, French-Speaking countries, English-Speaking Countries