Effect of Economic Factors on the Growth of Selected Small Businesses in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of economic factors on the Growth of Selected Small Businesses in Kogi State, Nigeria. Small business enterprises act like catalysts and are very crucial to the development of nations’ economies globally. The importance of small businesses to the world economies, especially Nigeria, including Kogi State cannot be overstated. This study used selected economic factors, such as access to credit, tax policies, and inflation. Descriptive/survey research design was used for this study. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire distributed to owners of the selected Small Businesses in Kogi State, Nigeria. The study population consisted of all the small business owners across the three senatorial districts in Kogi state, namely Kogi Central Senatorial, Kogi East Senatorial and Kogi West Senatorial Districts or Zones. Sample size of 115 respondents was used. Three hypotheses and research questions were tested using Chi Square (X2) to assess the relationship between the access to credit, inflation and tax policy on small business growth in Kogi state. The findings revealed that access to finance significantly affects small business growth in Kogi State, there is significant relationship between high inflation and small business growth in Kogi State and there is significant relationship between tax policy and small business growth in Kogi state. The followings recommendations are made. Governments and policy makers should focus on strengthening financial institutions, address regulatory barriers to enhance the effectiveness of financial access by small businesses, governments and financial regulatory authorities should prioritize inflation control by adopting effective monetary policies and improving fiscal discipline as well as reducing or removing the multiplicity of taxes, high compliance costs and give tax incentive packages to small business operators to enhance business growth. Key Words: Access to credit, inflation, tax policy, business growth, Small Business Enterprise.

Keywords

References