Banking sector development and foreign direct investment. A case of Botswana

Abstract

The study investigates if there is a causality relationship between banking sector development and FDI inflows in Botswana. Though quite a number of authors have written on the subject, there appears to be no consensus on the directional causality between banking sector development and FDI inflows into the host country. At the moment, three dominant perspectives exist regarding the relationship between banking sector development and FDI inflows into the host country. The first perspective says that banking sector development attracts FDI inflows into the host country. The second perspective suggests that there is a positive feedback effect between banking sector development and FDI inflows whilst the third perspective maintains that there is no direct causality relationship between the two variables. The results from this study are consistent with the third perspective that says there is no direct causality relationship between banking sector development and FDI net inflows. This confirms that the long run relationship between banking sector development and FDI net inflows is an indirect one and the two set of variables affect each other indirectly through other factors in Botswana.