Impact of Economic Freedom on the Development of Banking Sector in Iran

The most important aspect of financial development is the banking sector that has significant impact on the process of equipping the savings, identifying investment opportunities and diversifying the risk. Economic freedom is a determinant factor in developing the banking sector. The increase of economic freedom provides the setting of financial resources equipment, strengthens the sense of bank deposit in general population to guide them for limited capital in productive activities. Hence, in this study, the impact of economic freedom index on the development of the banking sector in Iran during 1980-2011 will be discussed. The results represent that economic freedom and its components have a significant and positive relationship to the development of banking sector. Also, based on the results, the estimation of the impact of central bank foreign assets on monetary base and Real interest rate on the development of banking sector is positive and significant. Also, the effect of public sector debt to central bank on monetary base is negative but significant.