The impact of financial regulations on bank lending in emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of financial regulations on bank lending in emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The dynamic system-generalized method of measures (GMM) is used to address difficulties such as unexplained periods and nation-specific implications, besides the endogeneity of the variables in question. Spanning from 2012 to 2022, the research used data from 80 banks in 20 sub-Saharan African nations. The findings show that expansive financial regulation, which includes a boost in the amount of cash in circulation, induces bank lending. At the same time, restrictive financial regulations, with the value as an improvement in interest rates by central banks, lead to credit contractions, albeit with little impact because of the attainable poverty of banking sectors, organizational limitations, bank-focused attention, and additional system rigidity typical of developing nations, which compromises the efficiency of the system. Other characteristics that substantially impact bank lending routes include capital sufficiency ratios and the scale of economic activity. Sub-Saharan African countries may boost the efficiency of financial regulations propagation on bank lending by making better use of the transfer process of fluctuations in cash supplies and interest rates.

Keywords

• bank lending
• emerging economies
• financial intermediaries
• financial regulation