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TERRA ECONOMICUS

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  • Exploring the impact of blue economy, financial development and technological innovation on economic growth: Case of Nigeria

Exploring the impact of blue economy, financial development and technological innovation on economic growth: Case of Nigeria


TERRA ECONOMICUS, Vol. 23, No 3,

Citation: Shamwil M., Malkina M.Yu. (2025). Exploring the impact of blue economy, financial development and technological innovation on economic growth: Case of Nigeria. Terra Economicus 23(3), 114–130. DOI: 10.18522/2073-6606-2025-23-3-114-130

Promoting a blue economy focused on «conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources» represents the 14th goal of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda. This objective holds particular relevance for developing countries like Nigeria where the use of marine resources plays an important role in the progress of the most promising sectors of the economy. The study explores how the blue economy, financial development, and technological innovation influence economic growth in Nigeria, using time series data between 1981 and 2022 and the novel Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag simulations approach. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that economic growth is positively impacted by both aquaculture production and total fisheries production in the long run, whereas, in the short run, the total fisheries production is negatively related to economic growth, and aquaculture has no impact on short-term economic progress. Financial development also supports economic growth favorably in the long run but in the short run the reverse is the case, which is consistent with the structural transformation theory. Furthermore, electricity production from hydroelectric sources and technological innovation makes positive contributions to economic progress both in the short run and in the long run. Our findings suggest that other developing countries could use Nigeria’s experience in establishing a Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to implement strategy of integrating abundant marine resources into their national economic structure, and the ministry should incorporate advanced technologies into its governance, coordination, and operational processes using data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and digital communication tools to improve transparency, efficiency, and responsiveness in policy implementation. These technological tools can facilitate better collaboration among governmental agencies and private sector participants.

Keywords: sustainable development; blue economy; financial development; technological innovations; dynamic ARDL model; Nigeria
JEL codes: C53, N57, Q22, Q27


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Publisher: Southern Federal University
ISSN: 2073-6606