Credit Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa—Sources, Risks, and Policy Responses

May Khamis and Plamen Iossifov
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Пламен Йосифов

No 2009/180, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze credit growth in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade focusing on the post-2002 rapid credit growth in select countries. We develop regression models of the fundamental determinants of bank credit and use them to examine whether they can fully explain developments in rapid credit growth countries. We then argue that rapid credit expansion, whether a manifestation of a credit boom or driven by fundamentals, can give rise to prudential and macroeconomic risks. We detail these risks and discuss the choice of policies to mitigate them. We conclude by evaluating the likely impact of the ongoing global recession and financial crisis on credit growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: WP; private sector; SSA country; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2009-08-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=23229 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2009/180

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi (amodi@imf.org).