## Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

_IMF Working Papers, August 1, 1999_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/measuring-financial-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-3245)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/measuring-financial-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-3245/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/measuring-financial-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-3245/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/measuring-financial-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-3245/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Enrique A Gelbard, Sérgio Pereira. Leite
- Published: August 1, 1999
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451852806.001

---

### Study overview and index construction
- Introduces an index for measuring financial development and a set of six indices representing key characteristics of the financial systems in 38 sub-Saharan African countries.
- Focus areas for indices include financial liberalization, adoption of indirect instruments of monetary policy, market structure, and the range of financial products.

### Key findings
- The 38 sub-Saharan African countries have made good progress in improving and modernizing their financial systems during the last decade, particularly with regard to:
  - financial liberalization, and
  - the adoption of indirect instruments of monetary policy.
- Remaining weaknesses identified:
  - the range of financial products remains extremely limited in many countries;
  - interest rate spreads are wide;
  - capital adequacy ratios are insufficient;
  - judicial loan recovery is a problem;
  - the share of nonperforming loans is large.

### Subject coverage and keywords
- Subjects: Bank credit, Commercial banks, Credit, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial sector development, Monetary policy, Monetary policy instruments, Money.
- Keywords: Africa, Bank credit, Commercial banks, Credit, financial development, financial products Index, Financial sector development, financial system, index, instruments Index, liberalization index, market structure, market structure index, measurement, monetary policy, Monetary policy instruments, Sub-Saharan Africa, WP.

### Publication and metadata
- Authors: Enrique A Gelbard, Sérgio Pereira. Leite
- Publication date: August 1, 1999
- Series: Working Paper No. 1999/105
- Issue: 105
- Volume: 1999
- Pages: 28
- ISBN: 9781451852806
- ISSN: 1018-5941
- Stock No: WPIEA1051999
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451852806.001

*IMF Working Papers — Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (August 1, 1999), Enrique A Gelbard and Sérgio Pereira. Leite.*

---

## Content in this bundle

- **Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - WP/99/105**
  - [Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - WP/99/105 (Markdown version)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/_wp99105.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - WP/99/105 (PDF)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/_wp99105.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

---

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/measuring-financial-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-3245_