Assessing the Effects of Financial Technology on Unemployment and Economic Growth in Oil Exporting African Countries

Abstract

The Fintech sector is among the most appealing for investors who are looking for the next wave of disruptive innovation. However, despite the resilience of African Fintech over the past decades on economic growth and unemployment rate, the desired economic growth and unemployment rate is undermined. This study investigates the effects of Fintech on unemployment and economic growth in selected oil exporting African countries. An annual secondary panel dataset covering the years 2000-2023 was employed as obtained from WDI. The technique adopted was the Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS). The result revealed that only individuals using the internet accounted for a decrease of (0.1103) units on unemployment as automated teller machine and individual using the internet exacerbate unemployment rate by (0.2110 and 0.00034) units. However, individual using the internet and automated teller machine significantly influenced economic growth positively with a coefficient value of (0.00317 and 0.02813) units in oil exporting African countries while secure internet server insignificantly influenced economic growth negatively. The study recommends that government allocation should be channeled towards promoting internet services by providing sound policies to network providers on how to improve their network issues and make data subscription available to individuals at a cheaper rate thereby reducing unemployment rate by promoting economic growth. More so, Government through its financial institution should increase the widespread of automated teller machine across the region to enable easy access of fund thereby facilitate financial inclusion hence promote rapid growth in the economy.