The Role of Islamic Banks and Private Commercial Banks in Increasing Financial Depth in Iraq

Abstract

The banks mobilize savings and channel them to the economy, whether commercial or Islamic banks and thus both contribute to increasing financial depth, the objective of this paper is to measure the contribution of the Islamic banks in increase financial depth in Iraq, and compared the role played by private commercial banks in contributing to increasing financial depth in Iraq. The paper has been applying the most used indicators of financial depth that used widely in the literatures, especially those applicable with the Iraqi economy.

The paper found via using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) that Islamic banks did not contribute to increasing financial depth in Iraq, as well as for the privately-owned commercial banks,

This negative role of both Islamic banks and private banks was a result of the conditions experienced by Iraq's economy, and the most important problems facing the Iraqi economy is the destroyed infrastructure of the country during the period of nineties because of the wars and the economic blockade imposed on Iraq during that period, and then the invasion after 2003 that contributed more to the ruin of infrastructure. In addition, lower role played by the private sector in the economy in association with the uncertain security situations in Iraq, making the performance of banks too weak.