Credit Growth in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia Region

Rapid private sector credit growth in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia has been a result of strong economic growth, financial deepening, and banks’ willingness to explore consumer credit markets. Economic growth, the initial ratio of private sector credit to GDP, price volatility, and nonoil exports are found to be significant explanatory variables, while oil exports and spillovers from oil exporting neighbors were not found to have any significance. The credit growth has financed consumer spending and home ownership rather than investment.Credit;Oil;Middle East and Central Asia;Credit expansion;Economic growth;Consumer credit;Oil exports;Housing;Capital flows;export growth, oil producers, oil export, oil exporting countries, oil revenues, oil exporters, exports of goods, oil export revenues, exporters, exporting countries, export earnings, oil producing, oil exporting, oil producing countries, oil prices, export revenues, capital adequacy, regression analysis, total exports, export orientation, oil export earnings, net exports, export sector, capital account liberalization, oil production, export share, oil importers, real effective exchange rate, energy information administration, export intensity, oil markets, spot price, share of export, balance sheets