THE MODERATING IMPACT OF CORRUPTION: UNDERSTANDING SMEs GROWTH AND CREDIT ACCESSIBILITY FROM BANKS
Keywords:
Deposit Money Banks, Corruption, SMEs, Growth, NigeriaAbstract
Universally, SMEs have been acknowledged to be engines of growth and development given their
contributions to employment and reduction in abject poverty while on the other hand, corruption
generally is seen as one of the causes of poverty. Accordingly, this paper focused on moderating
the role of corruption in Deposit Money Banks’ Credit accessibility and SMEs’ growth in
Nigeria. Methodologically, an Ex-post facto research design was adopted through sourcing data
from annual reports of companies coupled with relevant publications The outcome of the data
analysis revealed that corruption has a positive and significant effect on the relationship between
Deposit money Bank credit accessibility and SMEs’ growth in Nigeria, since the P-value is
greater than 5%. The study recommended that even though corruption has a positive and
significant effect as a moderating role in Nigeria, there is a global cry against it as corruption
practices cause distortions in the economic system. It also impairs hard work, diligence and
efficiency. It can diversify resources meant for society's development to private and personal use
and a burden to borrowers. Hence, the recommendation was crafted to eradicate corruption
attitudes among loan seekers, bankers and the government.
