The Impact of Digital Financial Services on the Nigerian Economy
Publication Date: 17/02/2023
Author(s): Olubukola A. Austin-Olowo, Ikpefan O. Ailemen (Ph.D), Akinrinola Olalekan Oladipo, Itai Muktar Monday.
Volume/Issue: Volume 6 , Issue 1 (2023)
Abstract:
This paper investigated the impact of digital financial services on the Nigerian economy, a study of Nigerian deposit money banks (DMBs). An expo-facto data analysis was carried out on independent variables of digital financial services: volume of ATM transactions (VATM), volume of POS transactions (VPOS), volume of WEBPAY transactions (VWBP) and volume of mobile banking (VMOB) regressed on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a dependent variable. These were obtained from the 2017 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin using the ordinary least square regression (OLS). Findings from the study revealed that the volume of mobile banking, point of sales, and volume of automatic teller machines transactions have positive impact on the economy of Nigeria with the volume of automatic teller machines having the highest impact on the gross domestic product of Nigeria as a proxy of economic growth while the volume of web services has a negative impact on the Nigerian gross domestic product. The study therefore recommends improvement on the operationalization of the independent variables: (ATM, POS, WEB PAY and MOB) by the monetary authorities, Fintech (financial technology), and the DMBs (Deposit money banks) to enhance the dependent variable of gross domestic product in Nigeria as a global economy while putting more effort on the security, safety, and literacy of these innovations to eliminate or reduce the negative impact of the web services innovation on the Nigerian economy.
Keywords:
Digital financial services, Digital financial inclusion, financial technology, monetary policy, gross domestic product, Nigerian economy.
