Do Lending Standards Matter for Non-Financial Corporate Credit? Evidence from Albania
Do Lending Standards Matter for Non-Financial Corporate Credit? Evidence from Albania
| Autoři: | Meri Papavangjeli Lorena Skufi Adam Geršl |
|---|---|
| Publikováno v: | IES Working Papers 4/2026 |
| Klíčová slova: | Corporate credit growth; lending standards; credit supply shocks; bank lending behavior; firm financing |
| JEL Kódy: | E44, G21, G32, C33, E51 |
| Citace: | Papavangjeli M., Skufi L., Geršl A. (2026): " Do Lending Standards Matter for Non-Financial Corporate Credit? Evidence from Albania " IES Working Papers 4/2026. IES FSV. Charles University. |
| Abstrakt: | This study investigates the relationship between lending standards and credit dynamics in Albania. Using a unique bank-level dataset from the Bank Lending Standards Survey, we differentiate between newly issued domestic-currency and foreign-currency loans to non-financial corporations. We construct a quantitative index of lending standards using detailed bank-level and macro-financial data. The analysis reveals that tightening internal credit criteria, driven by macroeconomic uncertainty, regulatory constraints, or risk aversion, significantly reduces new business lending, weakening bank–firm relationships. In addition, we assess the role of monetary and macroprudential policies, finding that policy changes affect domestic-currency and foreign-currency credit differently, amplifying the impact of supply-side tightening. Firms face limited ability to offset these constraints through alternative lenders, reflecting low substitutability in the Albanian credit market. The effects of tightening are persistent and intensify during economic stress, yielding important implications for monetary transmission, macroprudential policy effectiveness, financial stability, and crisis resilience in small, bank-based economies. |
| Ke stažení: | wp_2026_04_papavangjeli, skufi, gersl |
