Abstrait

Microfinance banking and economic growth of Nigeria.

Wachukwu IP, Onyema JI, Amadi SN

The study seeks to examine the impact of microfinance bank on economic growth of Nigeria. The research estimated the specified models using the Cochran-Orcutt regression model applied on time series annual data from the central bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin and annual reports 2017 edition and world bank national account data. The study employed both descriptive and inferential statistic data in analyzing the time series data. The results garnered from the data analysis indicated among other things that; microfinance bank credit growth and investment growth were significantly but negatively related to the real gross domestic product. the microfinance bank deposit growth and asset growth were positively and significantly related to real gross domestic product. From the granger causality test, it was found that there is a bidirectional causality between real gross domestic product and microfinance bank credit growth and real gross domestic product and microfinance bank asset growth. We therefore recommend that the Central Bank of Nigeria, which plays a supervisory function over microfinance Banks should put strict measures in place to ensure that loans that are granted are used for purely economic reasons, so it can impact positively on the economy.