The role played by deposit money banks’ credit in facilitating the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) towards economic growth and development in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized. Against this backdrop, the study examined the nexus between banks’ credit to SMEs and the growth of SMEs for sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria. The paper adopted ex-post facto research design method on secondary data sourced from central bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical Bulletin between 2001 and 2021. The paper employed descriptive, unit root and OLS multiple regression techniques to establish the relationship between credit to SMEs, interest, and inflation rates (dependent variables) and gross domestic product, SMEs’ output (independent variables). Finding of the study reaved that banks credit has a significant and positive effect on the growth of SMEs also, SMEs output has a significant and positive impact on gross domestic product in Nigeria. The paper recommends that the monetary authority should ensure a regime of single digit lending and inflation rates and stringent rudiments be relaxed to allow SMEs’ access to banks’ credit for sustainable development and economic growth in Nigeria.

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Categories: Volume 5 No 1