II. Read the following passage carefully:

Financial inclusion is defined by the World Bank Group as meaning that “individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs—transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance — delivered in a responsible and sustainable way”. Financial inclusion has the potential to help the achievement of the Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, and it is linked to at least eight of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

 

 The World Bank Group defines financial access as adults having “access to a transaction account or an electronic instrument to store money, send payments and receive deposits.” “Access to an account” may not mean “use of an account.” The 2017 Global Findex found that 20 percent of all people who had an account in 2017 did not use it at all. Financial access is a more limited concept than financial inclusion, which envisions access to a full range of financial products and services that are useful, affordable, sustainable, and responsibly delivered. These services include credit, savings, payments, and insurance, including through digital finance.

 

 Financial inclusion is expected to help address poverty and shared prosperity by improving and smoothing household incomes at the same time as reducing vulnerability to shocks, improving investments in education and health, and encouraging the growth of businesses and related employment. The poor face immense financial challenges. The income of the poor is not only lower but also more volatile. They often rely on a range of unpredictable jobs or on weather-dependent agriculture. Transforming irregular income flows into a dependable resource to meet daily needs represents a crucial challenge for the poor. Another challenge lies in meeting costs if a major expense arises (such as a home repair, medical service, or funeral) or if a breadwinner falls ill.

 

 Savings, credit, insurance, and remittances can each help the poor to smooth volatile incomes and expenses, providing a margin of safety when income drops or expenses rise, or providing the needed funds for children’s education or health care. Additionally, financial inclusion in the form of financial services for microentrepreneurs and very small enterprises has been guided by the intention that it can help them to survive, grow, and generate income for the poor. Nonetheless, evidence that financial inclusion directly takes people out of poverty is mixed.

 

In 2017 almost 1.7 billion adults (31 percent of the adult population) worldwide did not have an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider. In total, 56 percent of all unbanked adults were women, and half came from the poorest 40 percent of households. Two-thirds of the unbanked adults had a primary education or less. Nearly half of the unbanked adults lived in seven large developing countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

 

Globally, financial access rates have increased significantly since 2011, when the Bank Group began documenting them through the Global Findex database. The share of adults who own a bank account rose globally from 51 percent in 2011 to 69 percent in 2017—an additional 515 million people. Despite the growth in basic account ownership, extending financial access (much less access to and usage of a broader range of financial services) to disproportionately excluded groups, including women and the poor, remains a challenge.

Attempt the following questions based on the passage:

Financial Inclusion is a