Is There A Bank Lending Channel of Monetary Policy in Selected MENA Countries? A Comparative Analysis

Abstract This paper investigates whether there are differential effects of monetary policy across bank size, liquidity and capitalization in some selected MENA countries namely Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, to test for the presence of the bank lending channel. It uses a panel of bank balance sheet data to estimate the response of bank lending to changes in monetary policy. The role of bank capital, size and liquidity in the transmission of monetary policy is studied. Using a large set of micro data, we test the assumptions that the effect of a change in the monetary policy stance on a bank's lending activity depends on its capital, the bank capital channel, and on its liquidity base. Arabic Abstract: