Macroeconomic Determinants of Stock Market Development in Ghana

Abstract

Financial systems have been found to have a positive influence on the economic development of most countries. The stock market, which is also a component of the financial system is said to play an integral role in economic growth. This paper examines the macroeconomic determinants of stock market development in Ghana for the period 1992 to 2012 using annual secondary data from Bank of Ghana Quarterly Economic Bulletins, Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Stock Exchange Market Statistics, the World Bank and IMF’s International Financial Statistics. The macroeconomic indicators such as the real income (GDP per capita income), domestic saving, stock market liquidity, financial intermediary growth, macroeconomic stability (inflation) and private capital flows with stock market capitalization used as a proxy for the study were collected and used for the analysis. These variables were examined to establish a relationship with stock market developments based on a linear regression model.

The regression analysis found stock market liquidity to be statistically significant to stock market developments as opposed to the other determinants (such as macroeconomic stability (inflation) real income and domestic savings and private capital flows) which were found to be non-significant. This result suggests that macroeconomic stability (inflation), real income, domestic savings and private capital flows proved not to have any significant impact on stock market development, since their regression coefficients were not statically significant at the 5% level of significance.