Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Competitors Yet Partners: The Bank of Ethiopia and Indian Informal Bankers, 1931-1936 |
Author: | Schaefer, Charles |
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. |