International Financing and Poverty Level in Nigeria

This study empirically determines the effect of international financing and poverty level in Nigeria. The study proxied international financing into external debt, foreign direct investment, official development assistance and remittances, while poverty level was proxied by poverty rate. Secondary data were utilised and extracted from the World Development Indicators (WDI), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) annual Statistical Bulletin from 1983 to 2023. The study adopted Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach as the major data analysis technique. The results revealed that external debt has a negative and non-significant impact on poverty rate while foreign direct investment, official development assistance and remittances have significant negative effects on poverty rate. The study concluded that international financing plays a vital role in reducing poverty in Nigeria. The study recommended that Government should prioritise transparent, targeted and well-monitored allocation of development aid toward labour-intensive projects, such as public infrastructure, education and healthcare, which directly generate employment opportunities for the population and reduce poverty level.