Insurance market activity and economic growth : evidence from Nigeria

The focus of this study is to empirically assess insurance market activities in Nigeria with the view to determining its impact on economic growth. The period of study was 1970- 2008, the study made use of insurance density measures (premium per capita) as a measure for insurance market activity and real GDP for economic growth. It also employed control variables such as inflation and savings rate as other determinants of growth. The Johansen cointegration and vector error correction approach was used to estimate the relationship between the variables. All the variables used were stationary at first difference and the result showed a long term relationship existing among the variables. The hallmark finding of this study is that the insurance sector did not reveal any positively and significant affect on economic growth in Nigeria within the period of study. The result shows a low insurance market activity in Nigeria and that Nigerians have not fully embrace the insurance industry despite its importance to the growth of the economy. -- insurance ; financial intermediation ; economic growth ; cointegration ; vector error correction approach