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Financial Access and Stability : A Road Map for the Middle East and North Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Roberto R. Rocha
  • Zsofia Arvai
  • Subika Farazi

Abstract

This report contributes to the effort to improve Middle East and North Africa's (MENA's) growth and employment performance by providing a diagnostic of MENA's financial systems and proposing a roadmap for more diversified, competitive, and inclusive financial systems. The report recognizes the need to complement the financial development agenda by a financial stability agenda, to ensure that financial systems remain resilient as access is expanded and new risks emerge. The report starts by briefly reviewing the main causes of MENA's unsatisfactory growth and employment performance, identifying the region's broader growth agenda and the role of financial development in this agenda. It proceeds by reviewing the size and structure of MENA's financial systems, showing that most of these systems are excessively bank based and undiversified. The chapter provides a battery of access indicators showing that access outcomes have been very poor relative to those in other regions. It discusses the main causes of these poor outcomes and proposes a comprehensive agenda for financial development and financial stability. The report emphasizes the many common challenges faced by MENA countries, but it also recognizes the differences and tailors policy recommendations to the initial conditions in each of the main sub regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto R. Rocha & Zsofia Arvai & Subika Farazi, 2011. "Financial Access and Stability : A Road Map for the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2360.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbpubs:2360
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Herrala, Risto & Turk-Ariss, Rima, 2012. "Credit conditions and firm investment : Evidence from the MENA region," BOFIT Discussion Papers 29/2012, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    2. Naima Lassoued & Imen Khanchel & Imen Fakhfakh & Mehdi Etteyeb, 2024. "Entrepreneur characteristics and financing patterns in SMES of MENA countries: Overcoming the burdens of liability of newness," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 1507-1535, March.
    3. Raja Almarzoqi & Sami Ben Naceur & Alessandro Scopelliti, 2015. "How Does Bank Competition Affect Solvency, Liquidity and Credit Risk? Evidence from the MENA Countries," IMF Working Papers 2015/210, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Lassoued, Naima & Sassi, Houda & Ben Rejeb Attia, Mouna, 2016. "The impact of state and foreign ownership on banking risk: Evidence from the MENA countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 167-178.
    5. Barthelmess Benedikt & Langlois Jean, 2020. "SME Financing in MENA: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Multilateral and Bilateral Development Lenders’ Intermediated Lending Practices," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 16(3), pages 1-032, December.
    6. Issa, Samah & Girardone, Claudia & Snaith, Stuart, 2022. "Banking competition, convergence and growth across macro-regions of MENA," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 534-549.
    7. David Cobham, 2022. "Monetary policy frameworks in the Middle East and North Africa: How do they compare with other groupings?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 69(1), pages 108-130, February.
    8. Rim Boussaada & Aymen Ammari & Nouha Ben Arfa, 2018. "Board characteristics and MENA banks' credit risk: A fuzzy-set analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(4), pages 2284-2303.
    9. Mmolainyane, Kelesego K. & Ahmed, Abdullahi D., 2015. "The impact of financial integration in Botswana," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 852-874.
    10. repec:zbw:bofitp:2012_029 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Mateev, Miroslav & Bachvarov, Petko, 2021. "Regulation, ownership and bank performance in the MENA region: Evidence for Islamic and conventional banks," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    12. Calice, Pietro, 2014. "Predicting bank insolvency in the Middle East and North Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6969, The World Bank.
    13. Mr. Robert Blotevogel, 2013. "Measuring and Mending Monetary Policy Effectiveness Under Capital Account Restrictions: Lessons from Mauritania," IMF Working Papers 2013/077, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Burhan Can Karahasan & Fırat Bilgel, 2020. "State–Business Relations, Financial Access and Firm Performance: A Causal Mediation Analysis," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1033-1074, October.
    15. Haque, Faizul & Brown, Kym, 2017. "Bank ownership, regulation and efficiency: Perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 273-293.
    16. Amjad Khan Suri & Sonal Purohit, 2017. "An Analysis of Personal Financial Literacy among Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates," Contemporary Review of the Middle East, , vol. 4(3), pages 278-296, September.
    17. Herrala, Risto & Turk-Ariss, Rima, 2012. "Credit conditions and firm investment: Evidence from the MENA region," BOFIT Discussion Papers 29/2012, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    18. Herrala, Risto & Turk-Ariss, Rima, 2016. "Capital accumulation in a politically unstable region," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Mateev, Miroslav & Nasr, Tarek & Sahyouni, Ahmad, 2022. "Capital regulation, market power and bank risk-taking in the MENA region: New evidence for Islamic and conventional banks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 134-155.
    20. Benedikt Barthelmess & Jean Langlois-Berthelot, 2019. "SME Financing in MENA," Post-Print hal-03700216, HAL.

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