Effects of Financial Deepening on Saving Mobilization: Evidence from African Countries

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of financial deepening proxied by Broad Money Supply as a percent of Gross Domestic Product and Domestic Credit to Private Sector as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product on savings proxied by Gross Domestic Savings as a percent of Gross Domestic Product in Africa over the period 1998 – 2015  Design/methodology/approach: The study uses panel data of forty-two (42) countries in Africa over the period 1998 – 2015 and the system generalized method of moments dynamic panel estimation framework. Findings: The paper finds an insignificantly positive relationship between Broad money supply and Gross Domestic Savings in Africa. However, the impact of Domestic Credit to Private Sector was negative and significant. This results indicate that financial deepening has not stimulated domestic resource mobilization in Africa.  However, growth in per capita income had a significantly positive impact on Gross Domestic Savings which is consistent with the life cycle theory, increase in real interest rate negatively affected Gross Domestic Savings while increase in age dependency reduced Gross Domestic Savings.  Practical implications: Policies should focus on deepening the financial sector since it has the tendency to impact positively on savings. Such polices  should center on extending financial services to the rural areas through the provision of infrastructure such as roads, electricity as well as the development of innovative financial instruments that will attract the large informal sector.  Reducing the fragmented nature of the market and the high transaction costs as well as balancing the dominance of the banking sector will help improve efficiency of the sector and consequently, its ability to mobilize resources. Pursuing growth-enhancing policies that focus on value addition to raw materials and the adoption of technology to ensue efficiency in production could result in higher productivity and consequently savings. Efforts should also focus on reducing interest rates since many Africans are net borrowers and thus increase in interest rate will increase the cost of borrowing which will have adverse impacts on savings. Originality/value: The paper offers significant value in shaping and improving the financial sector in Africa with the view to enhancing savings.