Impact of ICT Synergy and Financial Development on Economic Growth in Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed the long-run impact of ICT synergy and financial development on economic growth in Nigeria. The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, using disaggregated approach on a time series data spanning 1990-2021. Data for all variables were sourced from World Bank database (WDI). The dependent variable is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which serves as a proxy for economic growth, while the explanatory variables are mobile cellular subscriptions (MCS), individuals using internet (IUI), market capitalization (MC); money supply (MS), and domestic credit to private sectors (DCPS). Major findings reveled the existence of cointegrating association between ICT synergy, financial development and economic growth. Further investigations revealed that while economic growth responded significantly to financial development, ICT synergy was found to have a negligible impact on growth in Nigeria during the period investigated. The paper concluded that financial development indices are more robust in influencing Nigeria’s economic growth through the financial channel with an implication that further growth of the Nigerian economy could be stimulated through financial sector friendly policies by ensuring market liquidity and efficiency as well as ensuring greater capital asset security.