Access to Bank Credit in Sub-Saharan Africa: Key Issues and Reform Strategies

IMF Working Papers, August 1, 2005

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Study topic: access to bank credit in Sub-Saharan Africa and measures to facilitate access by the private sector to bank credit.
Primary focus areas:
- Obstacles to credit for small- and medium-scale enterprises and agriculture.
- Progress in the design and implementation of reform measures needed to create an institutional environment more supportive of credit activity.
- Review of bank interest rate spreads and profit margins, their determinants, and comparison with spreads prevailing in other regions of the world.

Obstacles to credit:
- Barriers specific to small- and medium-scale enterprises.
- Barriers specific to agriculture.
Institutional and reform measures reviewed:
- Design of reforms to improve the institutional environment for credit activity.
- Implementation progress of those reforms.
Banking sector performance:
- Examination of bank interest rate spreads and profit margins.
- Analysis of determinants of spreads and margins.
- Comparative analysis with other regions of the world.

Subjects: Bank credit, Banking, Commercial banks, Credit, Credit bureaus, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Loans, Money
Keywords: Africa, bank, Bank credit, bank financing, Banking systems, broad money, cash flow, Central and Eastern Europe, Commercial banks, Credit, Credit bureaus, financial support, financing, firm, land tenure, Loans, operating expenses, rate of return, return on assets, risk assessment, Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa, working capital, WP

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