A Thesis Submitted to The Council of the College of Administration and Economics / University of Karbala
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Economic Sciences
By the Student
Najwan Mohammed Ali Khalaf Al-Waeli
Supervised by
Prof. Dr. Mahdi Sahar Ghilan Al-Jibouri
Assist. Prof. Dr. Kadhem Saad Abdul Ridha Al-Aaraji
Digital transformation in the banking sector holds significant importance due to its substantial impact on monetary policy through the application of digital technologies. Banks and financial institutions can greatly enhance their procedures, leading to changes in banking liquidity. Digital transformation can contribute to increased money flows and improved liquidity management, thereby affecting the central bank’s ability to implement monetary policy effectively. Thanks to big data analytics and artificial intelligence, banks can better identify economic needs, influencing decisions to change interest rates. Thus, it can be said that digital transformation plays a crucial role in shaping monetary policy and opens the door to significant improvements in the management of financial and monetary policies.
This thesis aims to analyze the impact of digital transformation indicators (ATMs, electronic payment cards, electronic point-of-sale systems, instant settlement transfers) on monetary policy indicators (broad money supply, interest rates, exchange rates) in three countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iraq, for the period (2008–2023). The study found that in Saudi Arabia, the adoption of digital technologies reduced reliance on cash and increased the efficiency of monetary policy. In contrast, in Egypt and Iraq, the effects were limited due to structural challenges such as weak infrastructure and economic instability.
The research problem stems from the question of whether there is a statistically significant positive impact of banking performance indicators under digital transformation on monetary policy. The study is based on the hypothesis that adopting digital transformation mechanisms in the banking sector, given the necessary infrastructure, positively contributes to the effectiveness of monetary policy. To achieve the research objectives and test the hypothesis, the researcher relied on a deductive approach by examining aspects related to digital transformation in banks and its impact on monetary policy through the experiences of selected countries, as well as descriptive methods and econometric analysis techniques, specifically the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model.
