Remittances and financial development in Sub-Saharan African countries: A system approach

•I investigate the link between remittances and financial development in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.•There is no strong evidence supporting the view that remittances promote financial development in SSA countries.•Financial development seems not to be a relevant determinant of remittances received in SSA countries.

This paper investigates the causality between remittances and financial sector development in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. To this end, we employ the panel Granger causality testing approach that is based on Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) multivariate systems and Wald tests with country specific bootstrap critical values. Using annual data over the 1980-2010 period for 19 SSA countries, the study gives the following results. Based on liabilities as a proxy for financial sector development, remittances positively influence financial development only in four countries (Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Sudan) and financial development positively impacts remittances only in Gambia. On the contrary, considering credit to measure financial depth, the results show that remittances positively affect financial development only in Sudan and financial development does not influence remittances in any country. Consequently, there is no strong evidence supporting the view that remittances promote financial development in SSA countries and financial development seems not to be a relevant determinant of remittances received in SSA countries.