Financial Development and Intra-trade Relationships: Evidence from Panel Analysis of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Countries.

This study accounts for the nexus between financial development and intra-trade relationships using nine Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries with the extraction of data from secondary sources spanning between 1990 and 2021. The following are the conclusions drawn from the study: exchange rate, interest rate and inflation rate, which are critical macroeconomic variables, represent unfavourable factors that suppress the intra-trade relationships within the RCEP region. In light of the above, this study recommends that any time the policymakers in RCEP countries desire better intra-trade relationships within RCEP countries, they should implement a unified monetary policy that will stimulate interest rate, exchange rate and inflation rate in such a way that the intra-trade relationships will be enhanced among the RCEP countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]