Diaspora remittances and development of small and medium enterprises in Benin-City, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined diaspora remittances and the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Benin-City. The objective of the study is to establish the impacts of diaspora remittances on the development of SMEs in Benin- City. The survey approach involved an online study. The major sources of data used were primary and secondary data. The primary data were elicited through the use of an online questionnaire. The data were analyzed and presented using a statistical technique such as tables and percentages. The secondary data adopted a longitudinal research design covering the period 1991-2018, which is readily available in World Bank data. The technique adopted is multiple regressions to test the hypothesis. E-view econometric software 8.0 was used for the analysis. The result revealed that in the long run, migrant remittance (MRI) and exchange rate (EXCR) which is a supporting variable have a positive and significant impact on the development of small and medium enterprises (DSMEs) in Nigeria. The result also revealed that most diaspora remittances are on consumption. Based on the above findings, it was recommended that the government should develop a policy framework that will harness the effort of diaspora toward the development of the economy of the state, and Edo state government should collaborate with agencies in charge of remittances to remove all encumbrances to remittances to encourage the diaspora to improve on their remittances.