ABSTRACT

This study empirically examined impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth of Nigeria between 1981 and 2017. Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and Bounds Test were adopted as the estimating techniques to verify the existence of long-run relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth in Nigeria. Real gross domestic product was used as the dependent variable, while foreign direct investment, balance of trade and exchange rate were used as the explanatory or independent variables. Data used were extracted from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin of 2018. The empirical results of Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model showed that all the variables except exchange rate had positive and significant impact on real gross domestic product. Exchange rate had a negative and insignificant impact on real gross domestic product. The government should create an enabling environment which would attract foreign investors into Nigeria, such as good, transparent and fair tax system, promotion of economic stability and the attainment of key macro-economic objectives. This is because foreign direct investment inflow has a significant impact on economic growth of Nigeria. Similarly, government should encourage and support local producers to produce standard products and services for local demands and exportation which will place Nigeria in a favourable balance of trade. This is as a result of balance of trade positive and significant impact on the economic growth of Nigeria. Mostly, government should bring out policies that will curb the importation of excess goods and services into Nigeria. This is attributed to the negative and insignificant impact of exchange rate on the economic growth of Nigeria. The higher the exchange rate of naira to dollar, the lower the economic growth of Nigeria. 

.