This study investigate the impact of financial inclusion and trade openness on Economic development in 27 African Union member countries. The countries were then grouped by income level and/or AU membership, so that we could draw clearer policy recommendations suited to the poorer nations alone. The analysis used annual data from 1995 to 2015 applied panel econometric methods to analyze these relations between the variables. Results show that standard dimensions of financial sector development (access, depth, efficiency and general institutional development) have a large beneficial impact on economic growth for the full sample as well as most sub-groups. Also, the other variables: capital formation, labour, energy consumption and trade openness were found to play a significant role in economic performance in the panels analysis performed. Moreover, the findings also suggest that this growth-fostering impact of financial inclusion is noticeably larger in lower-income AU member states than high-income and non-AU countries respectively. It subsequently offers well-rounded policy recommendations for the AU as a whole and its various sub-categories. 

Keywords: Financial inclusion, economic development, trade openness, AU members, panel estimations.