ABSTRACT

The research evaluated the impact of trade openness on the economic growth of Nigeria 1988-2014. The study employed secondary time series data, sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin 2014. A four variable model was developed comprising GDP as dependent variable and Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment and Exchange rate as independent variables and the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation technique of Multiple regression analysis was adopted. The findings of the research work includes: Trade Openness has a negative impact on Economic growth, Economic growth causes Trade Openness. Based on the findings, the study amongst others recommends that The Government should analyse Export promotion policy and import substitution policy should also be examined, so that country can take benefit from trade. The fiscal authorities should boost exports, encourage domestic products by dropping Excise duties and tariffs so as to boost home industries to trade their goods and services, That structural trade oriented policy should be adopted to enhance economic growth in Nigeria via high exports flows in order to accumulate more foreign proceeds to boost output growth rate in Nigeria

Background of the study

The global economy is in a state of transition from a set of strong national economies to a set of interlinked trading groups. This transition has accelerated over the past few years with the collapse of communism and the blending of the world trading nations into a single market (Gillespie, Jeannet and Hennessey ,( 2004) in Adelowokan and Maku(2013)). One of the most important paths driving global development into the twenty-first century is the advanced economic integration and investment. Never before have so many economies been open to global trade and finance flow than now, after the liberalization of the former communist economies (Adelowokan and Maku 2013). The relationship between trade and productivity has not been established theoretically even though some researchers have indeed found some, if not complete, support for the view that increasing openness has a positive impact on productivity (Osei,Cephas, and Shaik2012)

The role of international trade is very crucial to the development of any economy and it is assumed that trade liberalization works as an engine for the growth of the economy.