Information sharing offices and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Although credit availability is essential for economic growth, the information asymmetry problem inhibits the credit creation function of financial institutions. Among other means, information-sharing offices (ISOs) have been established, including private credit bureaus and public credit registries to provide information on the financial characteristics of citizens to reduce information asymmetry. From this background, this study used an explanatory research design with a longitudinal (panel) data approach to assess whether the coverage of information by ISOs affects sectorial and overall economic growth among sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using the system generalized method of moments technique on data from 2005 to 2019. The results highlight that information coverage by ISOs enhances sectorial and overall economic growth by solving the information asymmetry problem. From the findings, governments in SSA countries are encouraged to support public credit registries to effectively perform their mandate while providing incentives to attract investments in private credit bureaus since they contribute to economic growth.