The Mediating Role of Inflation in the Relationship Between Cash Flow and Share Price of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

This study examined the mediating effect of inflation on cash flow and share price of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. Correlation research design was adopted to define the structure and strategy of the study, while the target population was all deposit money banks listed on the Nigeria Exchange Group as at 31st December, 2024 which were 14 in number. Out of the 14 banks 11 were purposively chosen based on their complete annual reports and accounts over the period of five years (2020-2024). Panel regression analysis and structural model were used to analyze the data collected. The result of the analysis showed that there is a positive significant effect of inflation on net cash flow per share of the banks. More so, net cash flow per share shows positive and significant direct effect on share price of the banks. However, inflation revealed positive but insignificant direct effect on share price of the banks. Furthermore, inflation shows positive and significant mediating effect on net cash flow per share and share price of the banks. Therefore, the study concludes that, the rate of inflation in an economy has a significant effect on share price through cash flow. This signifies that, inflation rate could positively and significantly influence cash flow, which subsequently affects share price of the banks. Therefore, this study recommends that the investors and other stakeholders of banks should not only rely on the amount of cash flow and share price reported on financial statement when taking investment decision but also consider other macroeconomic factors such as inflation rate which could be obtain from the publications of Nigeria Bureau of Statistics.