TRADE OPENNESS AND FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN SUBSAHARAN AFRICA: THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY

ABSTRACT The financial development of many Sub-Saharan African countries over the years has not been able to match up with other regions like the Middle East and North Africa, East Asia and Pacific, and Europe and central Asia (IMF, 2016). Trade openness has been argued in several empirical literature as a factor that could spur up the level of financial development, although the high levels of trade openness in Sub-Saharan Africa is not contributing much to the desired levels of financial development in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is an indication in literature that trade openness will be more relevant to financial development of economies that have a strong institutional quality. Thus, by using system General Method of Moment estimation technique, this study examined how institutional quality moderates the relationship between trade openness and financial development of Sub-Saharan African economies. The study found that institutional quality enhances the effect of trade openness on financial development of Sub-Saharan African economies. It is therefore recommended that, Sub-Saharan African economies should put in measures to strength their institutional quality so that the high levels of trade openness will better enhance financial development. Specifically, trade openness can better enhance financial development by improving government effectiveness, reducing corruption, enhancing regulatory quality, abiding by the rule of law, and allowing voice and accountability. As an extra benefit, the improvements in institutional quality on their own too will yield positive impact on financial development