Financial Sector Reform and Economic Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Various reforms have been brought to bear on the financial system ostensibly to improve the country's macroeconomic variables and the standard of living of the people, among which are the financial reforms that were implemented in recent times. This study examines the impact of financial sector reform on the Human Development Index (HDI) following the recent statistics that show improvement in the HDI of Nigeria since 2005. The study employed several variables as a proxy for financial reforms and adopted the Granger causality test and vector error correction model to analyse the impact of the relationship for the period between 1980 and 2017. The findings revealed a negative long-run relationship between financial sector reform variables and HDI, except for owners' equity. The study also showed positive short-run dynamics between total savings to GDP and HDI. The study concluded that the recent improvements in HDI, which is the proxy for economic development, are not due to the financial sector's reforms; rather, some other influences in the economy could be responsible. The study, therefore, recommends a more inclusive reform agenda that will focus on economic development rather than economic growth. Contribution/Originality: This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring the effect of financial sector reform on citizenry's well-being. The study posits that the ultimate objective of financial sector reform is citizens' well-being through enhanced access to finance. Citizens well being is proxy by Human Development Index.

How well does government microcredit serve the investment needs of small and medium enterprises? An impact analysis on handloom weavers in Bangladesh

“…Whatever the reasons are, such an impact estimation highlights the need for immediate policy attention from both the government and other providers to increase the amount of credit so that it is sufficient to meet the investment expenditures for the weaving business. The insignificant impact of government credit initiative ðX 1 Þ is supported by Babajide (2012) and Obamuyi and Elumaro (2018), who argued that access to finance and government entrepreneurial policies was ineffective in inducing the growth of SMEs in Nigeria. The negative impact of X 2 is found to be consistent with Kohansal et al (2008), andHohfeld andWaibel (2013), Nwankwo andJames (2017), andFelix et al (2018), whereas it contradicts Gelos and Werner (2002), Petrick (2004) and Love and S anchez (2009), who estimated a positive dependence between the variables under consideration.…”

Factor analysis method for delay dynamics in Nigerian Tin Can Island Port for sustainable development

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“…Shipping remains overwhelmingly the most important and reliable way or form of transportation that being used internationally. In other words, other mode of transportation like road, rail and the air could be used but the volume of trade supported by these modes put together compared to the volume carried by maritime transport is very insignificant [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

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“…For micro-credit, micro-savings, micro-insurance, and training are considered major services provided by microfinance programs. To measure these constructs, the items were adapted from the previous studies of Hameed et al (2020), Bernard et al (2016), andBabajide (2012). The mediating effect of social capital between microfinance and MSE growth.…”

“…The items were adapted from Digan et al (2019). Similarly, for the construct of MSE growth, the items were adapted from Kisaka and Mwewa (2014) and Babajide (2012).…”