I. INTRODUCTION
The relationship between money supply and
economic growth has been receiving increasing
attention than any other subject matter in the field
of monetary economics in recent years. Because
of the importance of economic growth among the
macro-economic objectives of nations (developed
and developing), persistent concern has always
been given among monetary economist including
Mckinnon (1973), Shaw (1973), Fry Mathieson
(1980), Odedokun (1997), Levine (1997) and Asogu
(1998) to the relationship between money supply
and output.
Economists differ on the effect of money supply
on economic growth. While some agreed that
variation in the quantity of money is the most
important determinant of economic growth, and
that countries that devote more time to studying
the behaviour of aggregate money supply rarely
experience much variation in their economic
activities (Handler 1997). Others are Skeptical about
the role of money or gross national income
Robinson (1950, 1952). Kuznet (1955) supports
the view that financial markets start growing as
the economy approaches the intermediate stage
of the growth process and develop once the
economy becomes matured. This connotes that
economic growth stimulates increased financial
development. Steve (1997) and Domigo (2001),
explain that there may not be possibility of
economic growth without an appropriate level of
money supply, credit and appropriate financial
conditions in general.
Evidence in the Nigerian economy has shown
that since the 1980’s some relationship exist
between the stock of money and economic growth
or economic activity. Over the years, Nigeria has
© Kamla-Raj 2010 J Soc Sci, 22(3): 199-204 (2010)
Money Supply - Economic Growth Nexus in Nigeria
M. S. Ogunmuyiwa* and A. Francis Ekone**
*Department of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University, P.M.B. 2002, Ago- Iwoye, Nigeria
E-mail: misego@yahoo.com
**University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
E-mail: frankene 2001@yahoo.com
KEYWORDS Money Supply. Financial Development. Interest Rate. Economic Growth
ABSTRACT This paper investigates the impact of money supply on economic growth in Nigeria between 1980 and
2006. Applying econometric technique-O.L.S.E, causality test and E.C.M to time series data, the results revealed that
although money supply is positively related to growth but the result is however insignificant in the case of GDP
growth rates on the choice between contractionary and expansionary money supply.
been controlling her economy through variation
in her stock of money. Consequent upon the effect
of the collapse of oil price in 1981 and the B.O.P
deficit experienced during this period, various
methods of stabilization ranging from fiscal to
monetary policies were used. Interest rates were
fixed and these were said to be beneficial to big
borrower farmers (Ojo 1989). Ikhide and Alawode
(1993) while evaluating the effect of Structural
Adjustment Programme (SAP) concluded that
reducing money stock through increased interest
rates would lower gross National product. Thus,
the notion that stock of money varies with economic
activities applies to the Nigerian economy (Laidler
1993). The output development and other economic
growth process (via interest rate deregulation) in
the Nigerian economy calls for considerable test
of the validity of Friedman and Mieselman (1963)
work on the Nigerian economy. The implication of
the stability of the relationship between money
and economic growth will show the effectiveness
of monetary policy following the conventional
Hicksian IS-LM analysis.
This paper thus aims to investigate the
relationship as well as determine the impact of
money supply on economic growth. The scope
of the study is between 1980 and 2006 and the
paper is divided into four sections. Section I is
the introduction while section II is on review of
past studies. Section III houses the methodology
while section IV centers on empirical results and
discussion of findings. Section V is the
concluding remarks.
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
As already explained money supply exerts
considerable influence on economic activity in