Examining how growth in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors influences the facets of financial inclusion

The dataset supports an MScAgric dissertation titled "Financial inclusion and economic sector growth in South Africa." This study addresses that gap by examining how growth in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors influences the three facets of financial inclusion, which are access, availability, and usage in South Africa from 2004 to 2020. Data for this research are sourced from the IMF, UNDP, World Bank, and Statistics South Africa. Based on Financial Development Theory, the study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to analyse both short-term and long-term links between sectoral economic growth, human development, GDP per capita, real interest rates, and financial inclusion. Unit root tests indicate mixed integration orders among the variables, supporting the appropriateness of the ARDL method. The findings show that the link between sectoral growth and financial inclusion is complex and changing over time.