ABSTRACT

The study empirically investigate the impact of deposit money banks on small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria for a period of 30 years (1992 to 2021). Both statistical and econometric tools of unit root test, correlation coefficient and the ordinary least square (OLS) were employed to estimate the empirical relationship. The results from the empirical analysis revealed that bank loans to small and medium scale enterprises and banks total credits to private sector have significant positive impact on SMEs in Nigeria; bank assets has not really impacted on the growth and performance of SMEs, while bank deposit has significant negative impact on SMEs growth in the country within the period of investigation. The study recommends among others that banks’ management and indeed, all relevant policy makers in the banking sector should put their hands on desk to ensure that appropriate policies and incentives are put in place to ensure total banks’ deposit liabilities are properly invested in productive assets and directed to the real sector of the economy; it is on then that banks’ deposits will have the much needed positive impact on SMEs growth and even the growth of the Nigerian economy at large.