Measuring Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Domestic Debt Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Third, the maturity structure is important for the investors as they seek to diversify their asset portfolios. In many African countries, government debt is the only investment opportunity besides lending to the private sector since stock markets are either absent or highly illiquid (Gelbard and Leite, 1999). The provision of government longer-term paper is therefore highly important for investors to balance their long-term liabilities with long-term assets and for banks to increase profitability by taking on interest rate risk.…”

“…The positive impact of these reforms on financial development and liberalization are evident from the index numbers in the first two columns of Table 4. These numbers are drawn from Gelbard and Leite (1999) and comprise six subcategories, each based on additional subindicators: (i) market structure; (ii) financial products; (iii) financial liberalization; (iv) institutional environment; (v) financial openness; and (vi) monetary policy instruments. A higher index number indicates a more developed financial system.…”

“…It can be seen that the financial systems improved in virtually all countries, with the largest improvements observed in HIPCs (although they came from the lowest base). Gelbard and Leite (1999).…”

Zimbabwe: A Quest for a Nominal Anchor

“…While financial markets in Zimbabwe are somewhat developed and some financial deepening has taken place in the country, these developments are relatively recent (Gelbard and Leite, 1999). 12 However, the demand for cash may be less affected by financial liberalization than the demand for other monetary aggregates since the demand for currency is associated with transaction demand, which is relatively stable relative to GDP.…”

The Common Monetary Area in Southern Africa: Shocks, Adjustment, and Policy Challenges

“…However, the above does not necessarily imply that financial markets in the LNS countries are as developed as in South Africa. As pointed out by Gelbard and Leite (1999) and Flint, Duvenage, and Matshego (2004), financial market development and depth vary across the CMA countries with South Africa at the most advanced stage, followed by Namibia, Swaziland, and Lesotho.…”