TITLE:
Is Agriculture the Highest-Risk Sector? A Determination Using Congolese Data
AUTHORS:
Ulrich Jeanin Aymar Ganga Zandzou, Olga Euphrasie Ngakala Akylangongo, Roland Frédéric Didier Bany
KEYWORDS:
Economic Sectors, Agriculture, Risks, Congo
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.11 No.1,
February
10,
2021
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this article is to determine the
extent of agricultural risk in terms of sectoral risk in the Congo. By applying
information asymmetry theory to the banking industry, we postulate that the
risk associated with the agricultural sector is not the highest of sectoral
risks. The application of the IRISK method produces results that show that, in
the Congo, the agricultural sector is indeed not the riskiest of the economic
sectors; rather, it is the “wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels”
and then “transport, activities of transport auxiliaries and
telecommunications” sectors that are the most risky. These results, which are
in line with theoretical predictions, imply that it is still possible to
consistently finance agriculture provided that Congolese banks change their
“negative” perception of this sector.