Efficiency of Syrian Banks: A Nonparametric Frontier Approach

Abstract The objective of this study is to measure efficiency of Syrian private banks. The study utilizes a non-parametric approach, namely the Data Envelopment Analysis DEA, and uses input- orientated models to measure pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Five alternative models under two approaches have been applied to show the effect of changing inputs and outputs on the estimated efficiency scores. Cross- sectional data were chosen to estimate efficiency scores of Syrian private banks. The Software DEAP, version 2.1, has been used in the analysis and the obtained results were compared against traditional performance measures. Study results show that the overall average efficiency score is low due to the low average of scale efficiency. JEL classification numbers: C14, D61, G21. Keywords: Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, Syrian Banks.