Micro- and Macro-economic Factors of Mobile Money Adoption in the Middle East and North Africa

For the past decade, Mobile Money (MM) systems have become very popular in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and have transformed millions of lives by advancing financial inclusion, as required by SDG 8.10. Adoption continues upward within the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), possibly due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the MM industry has shown remarkable recent growth in MENA, with the fastest global growth in 2021. Nevertheless, adoption rates remain low compared to other regions globally and vary considerably across MENA countries. This chapter sheds novel and much-needed light on a relatively understudied topic: the micro- and macroeconomic determinants for adopting MM systems in the MENA region. To do so, it summarizes the main findings from the existing theoretical and empirical literature, most of which have focused on African countries. This systematic literature review aims to assist researchers in designing future quantitative studies on MM.