Financial intermediation and economic growth: evidence from Western Africa

The relationship between finance and economic growth has received considerable attention in economic development literature during recent decades. However, little interest has been devoted to African countries, and specifically, to West African countries. This paper tries to fill that gap, by using causality tests to empirically examine the relationship between finance and economic growth, in the context of West African country members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In all but a few countries, results indicate a weak causal relationship between finance and economic development on one side, and between economic development and finance on the other side. These results imply, ceteris paribus, that leaders of West African countries should focus their economic and monetary policies on the development of financial intermediation, which in turn will favour economic growth.