This paper studies the impact of Mobile Financial Systems’ usage on microcredit delinquency ratios (days of late payment) in Tunisia by using either a two-part model or matching econometric procedures. Our large dataset (23,315) contains all of the administrative registers that belong to the six branches of Enda-Interarabe, the incumbent Microfinance Institution leader in Tunisia. We find a significant reduction of 4.92 days of late repayment for an average user of Mobile Financial Services in an environment where 15% of loans have been paid late at least once. Given the low median delinquency rate shown by this institution compared with other Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in the Middle East, North Africa and Africa region, we foresee a tremendous opportunity to improve the MFIs’ repayment ratios and, consequently, provide microcredit customers with more financing for income generating activities.
Càtedra d'Economia Pública Facultat de Ciencies Econòmiques i Socials