Response of Banks to Fiscal Policy Stimuli in Nigeria

Abstract

This study went into much neglected area of research; relationship between fiscal policy instruments and performance of banks in Nigeria. Various finametric tools were used to analyze data collected from Nigerian Deposit Insurance Cooperation and Central Bank of Nigeria for period of 1989 to 2018 inclusive. Resounding empirical findings were made as follows; Bank performance is autoregressive. That suggests that performance of banks in the past cannot be predicting future bank performance. It was conspicuously observed that Capital Expenditure, Non-Oil Revenue and Domestic Debt have positive and significant relationship with bank performance, while Recurrent Expenditure Domestic Debt afterwards negatively and significantly impact bank performance. It was also found that fiscal policy variables (Capital Expenditure, Recurrent Expenditure, Non-Oil Revenue and Domestic Debt) significantly impact bank performance both in the short run and long run. Since fiscal policy variables are found to exert significant impact banks’ performance in Nigeria, the researchers suggests to Federal government of Nigeria as a matter of urgency reconsiders the operation of Treasury Single Account. It is the view of the researchers that the Treasury Single Account be operated through deposit money banks by domesticating various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) account with the deposit money banks.

Keywords: Bank Performance, Fiscal Policy, ARDL, Nigeria.

DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-8-12

Publication date: April 30^th 2020