Banking sector policies and financial development in Nepal

This paper examines the interactions between banking sector policies, financial development and economic growth in Nepal employing recently developed time series techniques. Policies such as interest rate controls, directed credit programmes, reserve and liquidity requirements are identified and measured. A summary measure of repressive policies is constructed by the method of principal components. This measure is found to have a statistically significant influence deepening, independently of the real interest rate. We argue that our findings are consistent with the hypothesis of market failure. Exogeneity tests suggest that financial deepening and economic growth are jointly determined. Thus, policies which affect financial deepening may also have an influence on economic growth.