Do Interest Rate Controls Work? : Evidence from Kenya /

This paper reviews the impact of interest rate controls in Kenya, introduced in September 2016. The intent of the controls was to reduce the cost of borrowing, expand access to credit, and increase the return on savings. However, we find that the law on interest rate controls has had the opposite ef...

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Bibliografske podrobnosti
Glavni avtor: Alper, Emre
Drugi avtorji: Clements, Benedict, Hobdari, Niko, Porcel, Rafel Moya
Format: Revija
Jezik:English
Izdano: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2019.
Serija:IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2019/119
Online dostop:Full text available on IMF
Opis
Izvleček:This paper reviews the impact of interest rate controls in Kenya, introduced in September 2016. The intent of the controls was to reduce the cost of borrowing, expand access to credit, and increase the return on savings. However, we find that the law on interest rate controls has had the opposite effect of what was intended. Specifically, it has led to a collapse of credit to micro, small, and medium enterprises; shrinking of the loan book of the small banks; and reduced financial intermediation. We also show that interest rate caps reduced the signaling effects of monetary policy. These suggest that (i) the adverse effects could largely be avoided if the ceiling was high enough to facilitate lending to higher risk borrowers; and (ii) alternative policies could be preferable to address concerns about the high cost of credit.
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Fizični opis:1 online resource (21 pages)
Format:Mode of access: Internet
ISSN:1018-5941
Dostop:Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students