Financial Development in the CIS-7 Countries: Bridging the Great Divide

Gianni De Nicolo, Sami Geadah and Dmitriy Rozhkov

No 2003/205, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: This paper documents the great divide in the level of financial development between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 7 countries and the more advanced economies in transition, in particular those of Central and Eastern Europe and Baltic states. It discusses the roots of financial underdevelopment in the CIS-7 countries by examining the differentials in interest rate spreads between the CIS-7 countries and the transition economies that have achieved faster financial development. The roots of the divide are traced to weaknesses in the institutional infrastructure for financial intermediation, which lead to a combination of low depositor trust in the banking system and high credit risk. High credit risk stems mainly from the poor creditor-rights protection and weak auditing and accounting standards. Financial sector reform strategies that fail to give priority to the resolution of weaknesses in the basic financial infrastructure are unlikely to be successful in letting the CIS-7 countries bridge the great divide.

Keywords: WP; bank; cost; lending; CEE+B; rate; Financial development; transition economies; transition economy; lending rate; ownership structure; bank size; nonviable bank; intermediation activity; bank concentration; CIS country; Financial sector development; Commercial banks; Credit risk; Credit; Deposit rates; Central and Eastern Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20
Date: 2003-10-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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