Cashless Policy and Economic Growth in Nigeria (Published)
The impeding infrastructural decay, inefficient security system on financial information and the high rate of cybercrime impedes efficient and effective electronic payment system which in turn affects the attainment of objective of cashless policy in Nigeria. In view of this, this study examined the relationship between cashless policy and economic growth of Nigeria. Specifically, the study aimed at ascertaining the relationship between web-based transactions, POS transactions and ATM transactions with real GDP of Nigeria over a period of 10 years (2013-2022). This study adopted the ex-post facto design with data obtained from the Nigerian Stock Exchange fact books, National Bureau of statistics (NBS) and Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletins for the various years under study. The collected data for this study were computed and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression tools with the aid of SPSS 20.0 software. The findings revealed that POS transactions and ATM transactions have an insignificant positive relationship with real GDP while web-based transactions showed an insignificant inverse relationship. Based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the F-change test suggests that the model is statistically significant (p-value = 0.020<0.05). This implies that the joint effect of the predictor variables is statistically significant. In view of this, it is however concluded that cashless policy plays a critical role in improving the economic growth of Nigeria. The study recommended, amongst others, that policymakers should prioritize initiatives that promote secure online transactions, such as implementing robust cyber security measures and ensuring a reliable internet infrastructure.
Keywords: ATM, CBN, POS, cashless policy, economic growth