This paper tests whether financial digitalization through the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network is associated with Morocco’s economic development, and whether the relationship operates through trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI), and productive capital investment. Using annual data for 2000–2023, we conduct Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) unit-root tests, pairwise Granger causality tests, and estimate a baseline multiple regression via Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). To address potential reverse causality between GDP and SWIFT usage, we also estimate a Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) specification that instruments SWIFT with FDI (as reported in the original manuscript). Results indicate: (i) GDP, SWIFT, trade openness and capital investment are stationary in levels, while FDI is integrated of order one and is therefore included in first differences; (ii) SWIFT and GDP display bidirectional Granger causality; (iii) in OLS, SWIFT is positively related to GDP but only marginally significant (p≈0.066), while trade openness shows a negative, marginal relationship (p≈0.06), and capital investment is positive and statistically significant (p≈0.004); (iv) in 2SLS, the SWIFT coefficient remains positive but is not statistically significant at conventional levels (p≈0.10). Policy implications are that payment-system modernization can support financial-sector efficiency and resilience, but growth gains depend on export competitiveness and the quality and allocation of investment.
Bouayach et al. (2026) studied this question.