Suchergebnisse

The constitutional conception of market integration within the European Union entails creating a level playing field for competition in the consolidated banking sector. The financial crisis of 2008 brought with it the need to proceed with care as it rolled back the gains of improving competitive conditions in the financial sector. Even though a lot of studies have investigated competitive conditions prior to the crisis, the same cannot be said of periods after the crisis. Using both structural and non-structural measures of competitive conditions, this study found that the consolidated banking sector in Europe shows signs of a monopolistic competitive market structure based on its revenue and cost measures. As five countries - United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy - control about 70 per cent of total assets in the consolidated banking sector. The capital expense to fixed assets and total assets in the Europe area were found to be negatively related to measures of profitability in the sector. They were indicating that the accumulation of assets eats into the incomes of banks in the sub-region, whereas bank exposures may be affecting bank profits.

AbstractThe SARS‐CoV‐2 coronavirus pandemic has raised public debt sustainability issues, especially for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). Developing countries with limited fiscal space have had to take on significant external debts to help deal with the negative effects of the pandemic. This has led to further increases in the debt levels of these countries, with the potential to trigger a debt default. Addressing these issues, this study uses a framework for fiscal policy and public debt sustainability analysis. The results confirm the impact of the SARS‐CoV‐2 coronavirus pandemic on the debt levels of Ghana and Kenya. This study recommends the creation of domestic fiscal buffers and fiscal space toward the attainment of long‐term debt sustainability, contrary to the popular view of offering debt relief to these countries.