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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Competitors Yet Partners: The Bank of Ethiopia and Indian Informal Bankers, 1931-1936
Author:Schaefer, CharlesISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Journal of Ethiopian Studies
Volume:27
Issue:2
Period:December
Pages:45-68
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., ills.
Geographic terms:Ethiopia
Northeast Africa
Subjects:banking
central banks
Economics and Trade
History and Exploration
international relations
Development and Technology
Economics, Commerce
Bank of Ethiopia
informal sector
Banks and banking
history
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/41966037
Abstract:In early 20th-century Ethiopia a greater percentage of loans passed through the hands of Indian-operated informal credit networks than through formal banks. During its first two decades (1906-1926) the Bank of Abyssinia was on the brink of insolvency. By the 1930s, however, the process of economic formalization had begun to favour chartered banking institutions. This is clearly evident in the period 1930-1936. The Bank of Ethiopia, successor to the Bank of Abyssinia, was wholly Ethiopian owned, and since over 90 percent was purchased by the government, it was given a virtual monopoly over official banking activities. The author first outlines innovations which enabled the Bank of Ethiopia to assert a preeminent position within the banking industry. He subsequently details the complex relationship between the Bank of Ethiopia and its informal competitors with regard to interest rates and loans, monetary transactions, currency exchange, and speculation. Notes, ref.
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