Sub-Saharan Africa’s interbank markets: progress, barriers and policy implications

This synthesis report provides evidence on interbank markets in the sub-Saharan African context

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been a broad deepening of the banking sector, with a notable expansion of financial access and strengthening of regulation across sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this progress, the banking sector in the region continues to suffer from a lack of competition, high borrowing costs, low levels of credit and a concentration of bank lending in the extractive sector. Interbank markets have a role to play in enabling economic growth, but this will only happen if efforts are made to develop and deepen them across sub-Saharan Africa.

This synthesis report provides evidence on interbank markets in the sub-Saharan African context, drawing on existing literature and research by the FCDO-ESRC funded Development and Economic Growth Research Programme (DEGRP). The authors present a landscape of interbank markets, analyse recent evidence on the factors that hinder their development, and draw attention to the policy implications for financial regulators”

Citation

Sherillyn Raga and Judith Tyson (2021) Sub-Saharan Africa’s interbank markets: progress, barriers and policy implications. DEGRP Synthesis Report.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s interbank markets: progress, barriers and policy implications

Published 15 February 2021