CASHLESS POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISE OUTPUT IN NIGERIA

The study examined the effect of cashless policy on small and medium scale enterprises output (SMSEO) in Nigeria from the period of 2000 to 2022 (23years). The study made use of aggregate secondary data from CBN Statistical Bulletin and CBN Annual Report, for the duration of the study. Cashless policy measures; Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Point of Sale (POS), Internet Banking (INTB) and Mobile Banking (MB) was analyzed in relation small and medium scale enterprises output (SMSEO) in Nigeria. The data set was described using descriptive statistics and the unit root test was conducted to ascertain if the data are stationary in order to have accurate regression result. The correlation analysis was used to ascertain the co-movement of the independent variables in relation to the dependent variable while the Multiple Regression analysis was employed with the aid of E-VIEW version 9.0 for the purpose of testing the research hypotheses raised. The findings revealed that ATM, POS and INTB transactions have significant effect on SMSEO; while MOB transactions have an insignificant effect on SMSEO in Nigeria. Hence, the study concluded that cashless policy has significant influence on small and medium scale enterprises output in Nigeria. The study recommends among others that all the DMBs operating in Nigeria should keep adopting and using cashless payment instruments in their operations to continually enhance the quality of their products and services thereby increasing their performance, thus, enhancing small and medium scale enterprises output in Nigeria