Last updated: December 2006
Volume 53, Number 3
IMF Staff Papers

Measuring Financial Development in the Middle East and North Africa: A New Database

Susan Creane, Rishi Goyal, A. Mushfiq Mobarak, and Randa Sab

Full Text of this Article (PDF 204K)

Abstract: This paper develops a methodology to construct detailed indices of financial sector development across countries and uses it to create a new panel database of finan-cial sector development in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. It combines existing quantitative data with information from comprehensive surveys undertaken in 2000–01 and 2002–03. The data show that some MENA countries have relatively well-developed banking sectors and regulatory and supervisory regimes. However, across the region, the nonbank financial sectors and sup-porting institutions are in need of reform. The MENA region ranks far behind industrialized countries and East Asia in financial sector development. [JEL E44, E50, O16, O53]