Economic Growth in Emerging Markets: The Influence of Foreign Direct Investment on Renewable Energy

The importance of energy for the growth and development of any country cannot be overemphasized considering the attendant effect of the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country concerned. This study thus, explores the impact of economic factors chiefly the FDI, unemployment rate (UNF), inflation rate (INF), exchange rate (EXR) and GDP on the hydropower production (HDP) in Nigeria. The data used for this study encompasses a quantitative data between the year 1970 and 2023 leading to 54 observations. The applied analytical methods include those of normality test, correlation, cross dependency, unit root test and Ordinary Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The result indicates that with a regression coefficient of −0.245 and a Pr (0.827) for GDP, 0.0609 and a Pr (1.40) for INF, −0.655 and Pr (.390) for UNF, and −0.523 with a Pr (0.458) for FDI, it shows that the aforementioned variables does not have impact on the HDP. However, with a regressor value of −0.040 and a Pr (0.000) for EXR, it posits that only exchange rate has impact on the HDP for the period under review. This study concluded that only exchange rate has structural relationship with hydropower production in Nigeria while the other economic factors of inflation, unemployment and FDI do not historically have impact on the level of hydropower production in Nigeria. This study recommended that controlling the rate of exchange rate is crucial for maintaining hydropower production growth. Failure to do so might lead to a decrease in the productive capacity in hydropower. Also, Nigeria can benefit from increased regional and global collaboration, which includes trade agreements and cross-border infrastructure efforts that enhance connectivity and promote economic integration.