Does financial inclusion improve household drinking water source? An application to the case of Togo

This study investigates the impact of financial inclusion in bringing the financing gap of water infrastructure in developing countries using Togo as case study. Using a number of robust estimation techniques, we found that financial inclusion is associated with an increase in access to improved drinking water and a decline in the travel time to the water source, especially among the rural poor areas, female heads households and the northern part of the country. The influence of formal inclusive finance is higher and significant in contrast to informal financial inclusiveness, which has no significant impact. Policy implications are discussed.