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Does Bank Branch Network Expansion Contribute to Credit Expansion? The Sri Lankan Experience

Does Bank Branch Network Expansion Contribute to Credit Expansion? The Sri Lankan Experience

Volume 3 Number 1, Spring 2012 pp. 72-89(18)
Research Article
2012/3/1
Wanniarachchige, Manjula Kumara; Suzuki, Yasushi
Generally speaking, firms in developing countries face credit constraints, due in part to the failure of financial intermediaries to fulfill credit demands. Thus, a healthy credit expansion can substantially improve the economic activity of such countries. This article investigates the contribution that interest rates and the expansion of bank branch networks had on the accumulation of deposits and available credit within the Sri Lankan financial system, based on quarterly statistics from 1990 to 2009. This article argues that the expansion of bank branches positively contributes to the mobilization of deposits, resulting in the creation of credit by the banking system. Moreover, as deposits are less sensitive to deposit interest rates, banks can attempt to increase interest spreads by maintaining lower deposit interest rates, as well implement the suggestions made within the financial restraint model—pioneered by Hellmann et al. (1997)—in order to capture the positive effect of interest spread on the credit expansion.
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