Our study focuses on the analysis of the main determinants which have an effect on trade and current account balance. We empirically investigate the effect of money supply (M2), real exchange rate, income, inflation, investment, and house-hold consumption expenditure on the trade and current account balance of WAEMU for the period 1980-2013. The examination of monetary and absorption approaches to the balance of payments motivate the inclusion of income and money supply (M2). The conventional approach of elasticity motivates usage of exchange rates. We adopt the panel VAR method which additionally includes a simulation of variance decompositions and impulse response functions for transmission of shocks and further deductions. The study found a negative and statistically significant effect of money supply, household consumption expenditure on trade Balance. We found also a significant and positive effect of real exchange rate, income, inflation, and investment on the trade balance. A significant and negative relationship between money supply, investment and current account balance was established. The effect of real exchange rate, income, inflation, and household consumption expenditure on the current account balance was found to be positive and significant as well. The significance of exchange rate effect on the trade balance suggests that the Marshall-Lerner condition hold for WAEMU.

This study investigates whether foreign aid (AID) has a significant influence on economic growth in WAEMU's (West African Economic and Monetary Union) countries. We use two (2) types of aid data: aggregate aid and disaggregate aid (aid in education, aid in agriculture, aid in trade policies and regulations and humanitarian aid) to run two (2) different regressions. Both the within-dimension and between-dimension estimators reveal that in the long run, the effect of AID on economic growth is heterogeneous across sectors and aid in agriculture, aid in trade policies and regulations as well as aid in education encourages economic growth.

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Capital inflow is an important factor for a country's economy. In this paper our main purpose is to investigate or to assess if the capital from abroad has a significant impact on economic growth in Niger. Our analysis takes data from 1980 to 2012 into consideration by using system equation method or the concept of cointegration and the vector error correction Model of GDP Growth Rate (GDPGR), Development Assistance (DASSIS), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Migrants' Remittance (MIGREMIT), Real Exchange Rate (REEXR) and Domestic Investment (DOMINV). We pay a particular attention on the impact of Development Assistance, Foreign Direct Investment, and Migrants' Remittance. The result of analysis shows an insignificant impact of Development Assistance (DASSIS), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), on the growth in contrast with our expectation. Migrants' Remittance on his side has a significant relation on GDP performance.

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