This paper investigates the impact of savings on economic growth in Africa. Annual data covering thirty African countries based on data availability for the period of thirtyfive years starting from 1980 were used. The study was found to be imperative because extant studies in this line were of mixed results. Panel Estimated Generalised Least Squares (EGLS) with pooled, fixed and random effects estimations were carried out, but Pooled Panel EGLS with cross-section Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) weight estimation was explained. The study revealed that savings contribute 3.96 per cent to economic outputs when increased by a percentage. Meanwhile, a per cent increment in each of the foreign direct investment (FDI) and current account balance will positively impact economic growth by 18.7 and 4.6 per cent respectively. Also, there is no causality between domestic saving and economic growth. But bidirectional causality exists between foreign direct investment and domestic saving. The study concluded that saving is relevant to economic growth in Africa, though, its contribution is very low when compared to FDI's impact but very important. The current account balance is very relevant to foreign direct investment and domestic saving. It is recommended that policies favouring savings should be encouraged such as universal coverage pension and grassroots oriented saving schemes. Also, a surplus current account balance should be maintained in the continent to attract more foreign direct investment and improve domestic savings. Contribution/Originality: This study reinforces the hypothesis of no causality between saving and economic growth especially in Africa refutes both Solow and Keynes precedence hypothesis as absence of causality nullifies the hypothesis. Although, saving is positively link to growth, but Current Account Balance is of essence in driving Savings and FDI. Microfinance Bank). Generally, most countries in the continent reformed their pension scheme and became more structured for effectiveness and efficiency towards improved savings.
The debate on the role of Foreign Direct Investment in promoting rapid growth and development of the developing economies remain inconclusive. This paper examined whether FDI still matters in African Countries over the period of 1990 to 2017, with the proper utilization of panel data estimation technique on the annual country data that were sourced from world Governance and Development Indicators. Using random and fixed effect model, the results reveal that some important variables such as coefficient of trade openness, rule of law, political stability, capital formation and population positively determined economic growth in Africa countries, account for about 2, 1, 65, 170, and 396.7 percent increase in economic growth. While, FDI and inflation were found to have negative impact on economic growth accounting for 21.4 and 2 percent fall in economic growth over the study period. The study then recommends amongst others formulation and implementation of policies that encourage domestic investment in the continents.
Financial development has been considered to play a vital role in promoting rapid growth and development of the developing economies. This paper examined the drivers of financial development in West African Countries. Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo over the period of 2000 to 2015, with the proper utilization of panel data estimation technique on the annual country data obtained from World Development Indicators (WDI) 2016 and Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) 2016. The results reveals that some important variables such as coefficient of rule of law, political stability, foreign direct investment, government expenditure, inflation and savings positively determined financial development. While, credit to private sector, GDP, interest rate, trade openness, and capital formation were found to negative impact on financial development. The study then recommends amongst others formulation and implementation of fiscal and monetary policies that foster financial development.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.