Financial Inclusion and Firm Growth in Malaysia and Indonesia: A Threshold Regression Analysis

This paper aims to investigate the effects of financial inclusion on the firms' growth from selected small, medium and large firms (275 firms) in Malaysia and Indonesia countries using a cross section threshold estimation technique. The levels of financial inclusion across firms were measured based on the distribution of financial services across the selected firms (access to credit). This paper reveals that there is a non-monotonic effect in the financial inclusion-firm's growth nexus in which the impact of financial inclusion on firm growth is significantly positive below a certain threshold point. The main finding suggest that the firms' owners and banking institutions should restrict the distribution of credit access within the optimum value or threshold level in promoting the growth of the firms.