© 1997 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
research-article |
Financial Market Fragmentation and Reforms in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania
Ernest Aryeetey is with the Institute for Statistical, Social, and Economic Research at the University of Ghana, Hemamala Hettige is with the Policy Research Department at the World Bank, Machiko Nissanke is with the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and William Steel is with the Private Sector Finance Group of the Africa Region at the World Bank. This study was supported by the World Bank Research Committee, the Swedish International Development Association, the Overseas Development Institute, the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), and the Leverhulme Trust. The fieldwork was conducted by Ernest Aryeetey (Ghana), Mboya Bagachwa (Tanzania), Chinyamata Chipeta (Malawi), M. L. C. Mkandawire (Malawi), and Adedoyin Soyibo (Nigeria), with assistance from Martin Wall on the flow of funds and Deborah Johnston on editing. The authors are grateful for comments from the referees and from Gerald Caprio, Carlos Cuevas, Jean-Jacques Deschamps, Marcel Fafchamps, Sergio Pereira Leite, Kazi Matin, Richard Meyer, Ademola Oyejide, and Hennie van Greuning
This article reports the findings from surveys of formal and informal institutions and their clients in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania. It investigates the hypothesis that reforming financially repressive policies would not be sufficient to overcome fragmentation of financial markets because of structural and institutional barriers to interactions across different market segments. The four countries have substantially fragmented financial markets, with weak linkages between formal and informal segments and interest rate differentials that cannot be adequately explained by differences in costs and risks. Nevertheless, the relatively low transaction costs and loan losses of informal institutions indicate that they provide a reasonably efficient solution to information, transaction cost, and enforcement problems that exclude their clients from access to formal banking services. The findings imply that financial liberalization and bank restructuring in the African context should be accompanied by complementary measures to address institutional and structural problems, such as contract enforcement and information availability, and to improve the integration of informal and formal financial markets.