Trade efficiency facilitates transactions and economic activities that flourish due to tariff relaxations. However, climate change has been exacerbated from excessive extractions, trade flaws and spatial redistribution of emissions. This research examined the influence of trade efficiency on environmental quality across 20 SSA countries, from 1990 to 2023 through dynamic panel GMM. A 1% increase of balance of payments contributed to rising carbon emissions and was statistically significant. Given the statistical insignificance of GDP per capita and squared GDP per capita on L1.ihs_CO2, L1.ihs_AQI and L1.ihs_EFPRD variables, the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory was not supported. Moreover, significant AR (1) at 0.05, insignificant AR (2), and valid Hansen tests validated the models. This paper recommends governments and policymakers to initiate green economy trade agreements for sustainable export production and inward investments. Sustainable bioeconomy regulations should also be developed for agricultural stakeholders to improve on the balance of payments and environmental quality.

Financial development is widely regarded as a driver of economic development in Africa, yet the conditioning role of institutional quality has not been systematically synthesised. This systematic review, conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines, examines 94 peer-reviewed studies on the relationship between financial development, institutional quality, and economic development in African and comparable emerging-market contexts. Ninety-two of these studies provide direct empirical evidence, with 89 falling within a formal 2007–2025 search window, and three seminal studies from 2005 to 2006 purposively retained outside this window for theoretical grounding. The remaining two studies are prior reviews, retained solely to position this review against earlier work. Eligible studies were identified through a structured search of six databases and screened using PICOS-based criteria adapted for the econometric literature. Methodological quality was appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. The review’s primary contribution is a three-mechanism synthesis of amplification, threshold, and substitution, through which institutional quality moderates the growth and development effects of financial development. Institutions, in turn, independently shape financial development itself. Building on a gap identified within this synthesis, the review proposes, as a secondary and empirically untested extension, a FinTech Mediation Hypothesis. Financial technology may reduce transaction costs and information frictions along a pathway conditioned by institutional quality. The findings imply that institutional reform and financial-sector development should be pursued jointly, with FinTech regulatory frameworks designed to exploit this complementarity while safeguarding financial stability and consumer protection.

1. Thriving economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been driven by mobilization of capital inflows that compounded fossil fuels, growth of industries and rising emissions. Despite external borro...

This systematic review examines the mediating role of financial technology (FinTech) in the relationship between financial development and economic development across African economies. It draws on 34 empirical studies published between 2019 and 2026, identified through a structured search of six electronic databases, namely Scopus, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, DOAJ, SciELO, and ERIC. The search was supplemented by manual reference screening. The review synthesises evidence on how digital financial innovations, including mobile money, digital banking, and electronic payment systems, expand financial inclusion and influence economic outcomes. Grounded in Financial Intermediation Theory, Financial Development Theory, Financial Inclusion Theory, and the Technology Acceptance Model, the review provides a coherent framework for understanding FinTech as a structural mediator rather than an independent growth driver. Studies were assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT, 2018). The findings indicate that FinTech significantly amplifies the positive effects of financial development on economic growth, poverty reduction, and financial inclusion, though these effects are often nonlinear and context-dependent. Institutional quality, regulatory frameworks, and technological infrastructure emerge as critical moderating conditions. This review contributes to the literature by providing the first systematic synthesis that explicitly classifies included studies by their capacity to formally test mediation versus those that imply indirect mechanisms, offering a more precise account of the FinTech–financial development–economic development nexus in Africa. The findings yield targeted policy recommendations for central banks, financial regulators, commercial banks, telecommunications providers, and government policymakers.