ISSN: 2225-8329
Open access
This study assessed the impact of external finance (proxied by external debt) on economic growth (measured by real GPD growth rate) in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region. Annualized panel data for 32 years (1986-2017) were obtained from World Development Indicators (WDI). Ex-post facto design was adopted because our data were secondary in nature. Individual characteristic of the series were ascertained with descriptive statistics. The stationarity of our variables was tested using five test criteria, namely: Levin, Lin & Chu t; Breitung t-stat; Im, Pesaran and Shin W-stat; ADF-Fisher Chi-square, and PP-Fisher Chi-square. The panel series became stationary when differenced at first [(i.e. at order one I(1)], which proved that our panel series did not have unit root. Panel least square (PLS) estimation process was used to analyze our modified models. The model were further analyzed with both fixed and random effect panel regression estimators, using the Hausman test to ascertain the best and appropriate choice between the two. Thus, our analysis was based on the random effect (RE) estimator. A 5% error tolerance level was allowed for this study. The outcomes showed external debt had a negative, but significant effect on real GDP growth rate. The implication was that external debt did not enhance economic growth in the sub-region during the sample period. This outcome was attributed to ineffective fiscal policy implementations and lack of budget discipline. Since external debt is noteworthy debt instrument that can help boost the economies of ECOWAS countries, governments of the sub-region must adopt fiscal adjustment mechanisms that can enhance their revenue profiles through improved taxes rather than borrowing to finance deficit and total reliance on primary commodities (usually unprocessed e.g. crude oil, cocoa) for revenue. The major contribution of this study to knowledge was that it made comparative analysis using outcomes of the sub-regional study and the country-specific outcomes of the 15 member countries of ECOWAS employing modified panel regression models to analyze the research objective.
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To cite this article: Anidiobu, G.A., Paschal Okolie, P.I.P., Onyia, C.C., Onwumere, J.U.U. (2020). Impact of Foreign Capital Inflow on Economic Growth in Ecowas Sub-Region, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences 10 (1): 172-188.
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