Foreign direct investment and stock market development in Nepal

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the stock market development in Nepal.Design/methodology/approachThe study used Johansen cointegration approach to determine long-run relationship and VEC Granger causality test to check the causal relations between the variables. The sample covered annual time-series data for the period 1996–2020.FindingsThe results suggest that FDI plays significant positive role in the stock market development in the long-run but inversely affect in the short-run. Unidirectional causality running from FDI to stock market development is observed in the long-run and bidirectional in the short-run. There is an insignificant positive relationship between exchange rate and FDI in the short-run. Banking sector development complements stock market development in the short-run but act as a substitute in the long-run. The statistically negative coefficient of exchange rate imply that the appreciation of the home currency encourage the development of the stock market in the long-run.Originality/valueThe positive and statistical coefficients of cointegration results indicate that FDI complements the development of stock market in Nepal in the long-run. Furthermore, the depreciation of the domestic currency may potentially contribute to the foreign direct investments in Nepal.