Monetary Policy and Trade Balance in Nigeria

Nigeria apex bank Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has continued to battle with the job of reviving the ailing economy and putting it on the path of growth. The economy has witnessed unprecedented job loss, rising poverty level, accelerating inflation, sluggish economic growth and disequilibrium in the balance of trade. The study therefore examine the effect of monetary policy on trade balance in Nigeria. Specifically the study ascertained the extent to which inflation, demand deposit, liquidity ratio, exchange rate and interest rate have influenced trade balance in Nigeria using an econometric regression model of the Ordinary Least Square OLS . From the result of the OLS, it is observed that monetary policy rate, demand deposit, liquidity ratio and exchange rate have a significant positive impact on foreign trade in Nigeria. This means that increases in monetary policy rate, demand deposit, liquidity ratio and exchange rate, will lead to increase in foreign trade in Nigeria. On the other, inflation rate and interest rate has a significant negative impact on foreign trade in Nigeria, meaning that as inflation rate and interest rate increases, will be bring about a decline in foreign trade in Nigeria. Based on the findings of this study, the study recommends that the government should employ a contractionary monetary policy to fight inflation by reducing the money supply in the country through decreased bond price. inflation, demand deposit, liquidity ratio, exchange rate and interest rate have influenced trade balance in Nigeria. The government should intervene in the foreign exchange market in order to build reserves for themselves or provide them to the bank to help stabilize the exchange rate. The government should strive to improve trade performance in the short and long run. They should also reduce government spending and tax capital inflow. Edokobi, Tonna David | Okpala, Ngozi Eugenia | Okoye, Nonso John "Monetary Policy and Trade Balance in Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-5 , August 2021, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd45080.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/management/public-sector-management/45080/monetary-policy-and-trade-balance-in-nigeria/edokobi-tonna-david