Marjan Habibollahi - PhD Student in Economics, Aligudarz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Aligudarz, Iran.
Reza Maaboudi - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Economics, Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi University.
Mohammad Khorsand - Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Aligudarz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Aligudarz, Iran.

The financial sector plays a central role in economic development and growth, and due to playing an intermediary role in allocating resources to all sectors of the economy, by reducing financing costs and encouraging savings and their efficient use, a major contribution. In the long-term economic growth of the government in oil-exporting countries, relying on oil revenues, it is possible to enter the financial markets extensively and make various changes in it. The main goal of policymakers from such changes is to stimulate economic growth. But studies in this area show that fiscal development does not necessarily lead to economic growth. However, in recent decades, the role of financial development in economic growth has been forgotten. Therefore, this study examines the impact of the development of financial institutions on economic growth. The statistical population of the present study consists of MENA member countries in the period ۱۹۸۰ to ۲۰۱۹. In order to conduct this research, due to the nonlinear relationship between the research variables, the PSTR model and Markov switching time series pattern have been used. Financial depth, accessibility and efficiency are also variables in the development of financial institutions that have been considered in this study. The results indicate that all three components of the financial institutions development index have a significant effect on the economic growth variable.

Financial Institutions, Economic Growth, Vector Autoregression Approach, Markov Switching, Financial Depth