IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/9301.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Transforming Finance in the Middle East and North Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Arezki,Rabah
  • Senbet,Lemma W.

Abstract

This paper argues for a transformation of finance to support the economic and social transformation of the Middle East and North Africa. The paper first documents the existing financial system in the region. The system is heavily skewed toward banking, relative to non-banking services, such as stock and corporate bond markets, with significant heterogeneity across countries. Second, the paper discusses the stance of macroeconomic policy in the region, which has had important implications for the destination, profitability, and quality of bank lending and the limited evolution of the financial system. Third, the paper explores the impact of technology on financial development, with particular attention to prospects for the development of fintechs. Entrenched incumbency of banks has limited the role of non-bank operators in fostering market contestability and fintech development. The paper is a call to the authorities and policy makers in the Middle East and North Africa to break with the status quo and business as usual. It underscores the need for a “moonshot approach†focused on establishing the foundations of a new digital economy and its role in promoting a well-functioning and inclusive financial economy to support the development needs of the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Arezki,Rabah & Senbet,Lemma W., 2020. "Transforming Finance in the Middle East and North Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9301, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/935611593023039875/pdf/Transforming-Finance-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rabah Arezki, 2021. "The Economics of Sustainability: Causes and Consequences of Energy Market Transformation," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    2. Cull, Robert & Senbet, Lemma W & Sorge, Marco, 2005. "Deposit Insurance and Financial Development," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 43-82, February.
    3. Ethan Ilzetzki & Carmen M Reinhart & Kenneth S Rogoff, 2019. "Exchange Arrangements Entering the Twenty-First Century: Which Anchor will Hold?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 599-646.
    4. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Youssouf Kiendrebeogo & Daniel Lederman, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, April 2018," World Bank Publications - Reports 29649, The World Bank Group.
    5. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Government Ownership of Banks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 265-301, February.
    6. Rabah Arezki & Rachel Yuting Fan & Ha Nguyen, 2021. "Technology adoption and the middle‐income trap: Lessons from the Middle East and East Asia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1711-1740, August.
    7. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2000. "A New Database on the Structure and Development of the Financial Sector," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(3), pages 597-605, September.
    8. Rijkers, Bob & Freund, Caroline & Nucifora, Antonio, 2017. "All in the family: State capture in Tunisia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 41-59.
    9. World Bank, 2004. "Unlocking the Employment Potential in the Middle East and North Africa : Toward a New Social Contract," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15011.
    10. Rabah Arezki & Lili Mottaghi & Andrea Barone & Rachel Yuting Fan & Amani Abou Harb & Omer M. Karasapan & Hideki Matsunaga & Ha Nguyen & Francois de Soyres, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, October 2018 [Bulletin d'information economique de la region MENA]," World Bank Publications - Reports 30436, The World Bank Group.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Philippe Adair & Vladimir Hlasny & Mariem Omrani & Kareem Sharabi Rosshandler, 2022. "Fostering social businesses and formalising the informal economy in MENA countries," Erudite Working Paper 2022-03, Erudite.
    2. Paul Makdissi & Walid Marrouch & Myra Yazbeck, 2022. "Monitoring Poverty in a Data Deprived Environment: The Case of Lebanon," Working Papers 2022-014, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Kubinec, 2018. "Patrons or Clients? Measuring and Experimentally Evaluating Political Connections of Firms in Morocco and Jordan," Working Papers 1280, Economic Research Forum, revised 26 Dec 2018.
    2. Franklin Allen & Elena Carletti & Robert Cull & Jun Qian & Lemma Senbet & Patricio Valenzuela, 2014. "Resolving the African Financial Development Gap: Cross-Country Comparisons and a Within-Country Study of Kenya," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume III: Modernization and Development, pages 13-62, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Allen, Franklin & Carletti, Elena & Cull, Robert & Qian, Jun & Senbet, Lemma, 2010. "The African Financial Development Gap," Working Papers 10-18, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    4. Ouyang, Yaofu & Li, Peng, 2018. "On the nexus of financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption in China: New perspective from a GMM panel VAR approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 238-252.
    5. Thorsten Beck & Martin Brown, 2011. "Which Households Use Banks? Evidence from the Transition Economies," Working Papers 2011-01, Swiss National Bank.
    6. Chris Doucouliagos & Jakob de Haan & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2022. "What drives financial development? A Meta-regression analysis [A new database of financial reforms]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 840-868.
    7. Camarero, Mariam & Gadea-Rivas, María Dolores & Gómez-Loscos, Ana & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2021. "Effects of external imbalances on GDP recovery patterns," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 349-362.
    8. Beck, Thorsten, 2006. "Creating an efficient financial system : challenges in a global economy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3856, The World Bank.
    9. Klüh, Ulrich, 2005. "Safety Net Design and Systemic Risk: New Empirical Evidence," Discussion Papers in Economics 662, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    10. Mariam Camarero & María Dolores Gadea-Rivas & Ana Gómez-Loscos & Cecilio Tamarit, 2019. "External imbalances and recoveries," Working Papers 1912, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    11. Beck, T.H.L. & Brown, M., 2011. "Use of Banking Services in Emerging Markets -Household-Level Evidence (Replaces EBC DP 2010-025)," Other publications TiSEM 9bb7dc9a-700a-42db-97f1-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Rabah Arezki & Rachel Yuting Fan & Ha Nguyen, 2021. "Technology adoption and the middle‐income trap: Lessons from the Middle East and East Asia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1711-1740, August.
    13. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2008. "Finance, Financial Sector Policies, and Long-Run Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28021.
    14. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Enrica Detragiache, 2005. "Cross-Country Empirical Studies of Systemic Bank Distress: A Survey," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 192(1), pages 68-83, April.
    15. Stephen G. Cecchetti & Stefan Krause, 2005. "Deposit Insurance and External Finance," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 531-541, July.
    16. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Finance and economic development : policy choices for developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3955, The World Bank.
    17. Alicia García Herrero & Javier Santillán & Sonsoles Gallego & Lucía Cuadro & Carlos Egea, 2002. "Latin American Financial Development in Perspective," Working Papers 0216, Banco de España.
    18. Chernykh, Lucy & Cole, Rebel A., 2011. "Does deposit insurance improve financial intermediation? Evidence from the Russian experiment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 388-402, February.
    19. Bofinger, Peter & Geißendörfer, Lisa & Haas, Thomas & Mayer, Fabian, 2023. "Credit as an instrument for growth: A monetary explanation of the Chinese growth story," W.E.P. - Würzburg Economic Papers 107, University of Würzburg, Department of Economics.
    20. Hatra Voghouei & M. Azail & Siong Law, 2013. "The effect of dynamic legal tradition on financial development: panel data evidence," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 109-136, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.