Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MMSMEs) Financing and Intensive Growth in Nigeria

This study examines the effect of Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) on intensive growth in Nigeria from 1981 – 2020 using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique. Empirical results show that MSMEs and domestic investment had a positive and statistically significant effect on intensive growth in the long and short run. Government external debt had a negative and insignificant effect on intensive growth both in the short and long runs. While labour force participation also had a negative effect on intensive growth but the effect was significant only in the short run. The government can help MSMEs to survive in the long run by ensuring that funds set aside for MSMEs development get to them. Also, training MSMEs periodically on entrepreneurship management is recommended. Measures should also be taken to encourage domestic investment while the labour force should properly be engaged. Laws can be made to guide against the underemployment of labour by the private sector and control the engagement of the labour force.