IMF Working Papers

Financial Structure, Bank Lending Rates, and the Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy

Author/Editor:

Angeliki Kourelis ; Carlo Cottarelli

Publication Date:

March 1, 1994

Summary:

The stickiness of bank lending rates with respect to money market rates is often regarded as an obstacle to the smooth transmission of monetary policy impulses. Yet, no systematic measure of the different degree of lending rate stickiness across countries has been attempted. This paper provides such a measure. It also relates the different degree of lending rate stickiness to structural features of the financial system, such as the existence of barriers to competition, the degree of development of financial markets, and the ownership structure of the banking system. Thus, the paper provides further evidence on the relationship between structural financial policies and monetary policy, as well as on the relevance of credit markets for the monetary policy transmission mechanism. The role of administered discount rates in speeding up the. adjustment of lending rates is also discussed.

Series:

Working Paper No. 1994/039

Subject:

Bank credit Banking Commercial banks Competition Discount rates Financial institutions Financial markets Financial services Money Money markets

Notes:

Also published in Staff Papers, Vol. 41, No. 4, December 1994.