Digital Financial Governance and Public Service Delivery: Evaluating the Role of Financial Literacy in Economic Administration across Selected Sub-Saharan African States

This study examines the relationship between digital financial literacy (DFL) and economic growth in four Sub-Saharan African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Cameroon. Drawing on panel data spanning 1999 to 2024, the study employs the Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE) estimator to account for cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity across country contexts. Digital financial literacy is operationalised through mobile cellular subscriptions and internet usage as established proxies for digital financial access and engagement. The analysis reveals that mobile cellular subscriptions exert a consistently positive and statistically significant effect on economic growth, confirming that expanded digital financial access strengthens public economic capacity. Internet usage also contributes positively to growth, though the effect tends to materialise with a lag, reflecting the time required for digital skills and complementary infrastructure to mature. High inflation rates are found to significantly impede economic growth, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana, where macroeconomic instability has undermined the potential gains of digital financial services. Population growth demonstrates a conditional effect that depends on concurrent investments in human capital, including financial literacy. Institutional quality emerges as a meaningful moderating variable, amplifying the positive effects of digital financial access on economic outcomes. The study concludes that digital financial literacy functions as a form of public administrative capacity that governments must deliberately cultivate through integrated policy frameworks combining digital infrastructure investment, financial education, macroeconomic stability, and institutional strengthening.