Financial Structure, Bank Credit Channel and Monetary Policy

This book examined the impact of monetary policy on bank lending and investigated the importance of bank credit channel with the deregulation of the financial sector in Nigeria. It also considered the issue as to whether money or credit aggregate was the main cause of variability in economic activity and prices in Nigeria. This was with a view to providing empirical evidence on the implication of the structure of the financial markets on bank credit channel of monetary transmission in Nigeria. Using secondary data sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria's Statistical Bulletin and IMF's International Financial Statistics for the period 1970-2003 the author employed both descriptive statistics and econometric techniques in this book. The book showed that though the Nigerian financial sector was important in the light of its contribution to the macroeconomy, it was still underdeveloped relative to international standard. Econometric techniques applied in the book also concluded that the bank credit channel was weak in the Nigerian economy and the major source of variability in economic activity was the nominal exchange rate.