IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i16p7169-d1460660.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Foreign or Domestic Public Debt for Cameroon’s Development? An Externality Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Nelson Derrick Nguepi

    (Research Group in Applied Economics and Development (GREAD), Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Dschang, Dschang P.O. Box 96, Cameroon)

  • Ibrahim Ngouhouo

    (Research Group in Applied Economics and Development (GREAD), Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Dschang, Dschang P.O. Box 96, Cameroon)

  • Irina Bilan

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Bvd. Carol I No. 11, 700506 Iasi, Romania)

Abstract

Public debt plays a major role in financing projects that support economic growth and sustainable development. As governments may choose between domestic and external borrowing, a comprehensive assessment of their effects would support this choice. Our study provides an integrative view of economic and social outcomes and compares, through externalities, the impacts of external and domestic public debt as methods of financing development, with a focus on the Cameroonian economy. Utilizing a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a microsimulation analysis, we find that domestic debt has more advantages for Cameroon compared to external debt, as it increases the large-scale economic impact by improving household welfare, boosting GDP growth, and progressively reducing poverty and inequality. It is therefore recommended that the Cameroonian government focus on increasing the use of domestic debt as a method of financing development by implementing policies that support domestic saving and promote the development of domestic debt markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Nelson Derrick Nguepi & Ibrahim Ngouhouo & Irina Bilan, 2024. "Foreign or Domestic Public Debt for Cameroon’s Development? An Externality Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-27, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:7169-:d:1460660
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/7169/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/7169/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kizito Uyi Ehigiamusoe & Mohamad Shaharudin Samsurijan, 2021. "What matters for finance‐growth nexus? A critical survey of macroeconomic stability, institutions, financial and economic development," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5302-5320, October.
    2. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Varieties of Crises and Their Dates," Introductory Chapters, in: This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, Princeton University Press.
    3. Afonso, António & Jalles, João Tovar, 2013. "Growth and productivity: The role of government debt," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 384-407.
    4. S M Ali Abbas & Jakob E Christensen, 2010. "The Role of Domestic Debt Markets in Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation for Low-Income Countries and Emerging Markets," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 57(1), pages 209-255, April.
    5. Xinyuan Ren & Zhixin Liu & Hao Jin, 2024. "Fiscal consolidation in China: a dynamic computable general equilibrium analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1), pages 59-80, January.
    6. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    7. Reinhart, Karmen & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2009. ""This time is different": panorama of eight centuries of financial crises," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 77-114, March.
    8. Markus Ahlborn & Rainer Schweickert, 2018. "Public debt and economic growth – economic systems matter," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 373-403, April.
    9. Sima Rani Dey & Mohammad Tareque, 2020. "External debt and growth: role of stable macroeconomic policies," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(50), pages 185-204, July.
    10. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    11. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    12. José Augusto Lopes da Veiga & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes & Tiago Neves Sequeira, 2016. "Public Debt, Economic Growth and Inflation in African Economies," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 84(2), pages 294-322, June.
    13. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    14. Lu, Dong & Qian, Xingwang & Zhu, Wenyu, 2024. "External debt currency denomination and the currency composition of foreign exchange reserves," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    15. Domingues, Edson Paulo & Haddad, Eduardo Amaral, 2005. "Sensitivity Analysis in Computable General Equilibrium Models: An Application for the Regional Effects of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 25(1), May.
    16. Lau, Evan & Moll de Alba, Jaime & Liew, Kim-Hing, 2022. "Debt and economic growth in Asian developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 599-612.
    17. Frederik J.C. Beyers & Allan De Freitas & Kojo A. Essel‐Mensah & Reyno Seymore & Dimitrios P. Tsomocos, 2022. "A computable general equilibrium model as a banking sector regulatory tool in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 90(1), pages 93-120, March.
    18. Carmen M. Reinhart & Vincent R. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2012. "Public Debt Overhangs: Advanced-Economy Episodes since 1800," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 69-86, Summer.
    19. Bhagwati, Jagdish, 2008. "Termites in the Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195331653.
    20. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2014. "This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(2), pages 215-268, November.
    21. Andrea F Presbitero, 2012. "Total Public Debt and Growth in Developing Countries," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 24(4), pages 606-626, September.
    22. Ahlborn, Markus & Schweickert, Rainer, 2018. "Public Debt and Economic Growth – Economic Systems Matter," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 15(2), pages 373-403.
    23. Krugman, Paul, 1988. "Financing vs. forgiving a debt overhang," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 253-268, November.
    24. Sidi Mohammed Chekouri & Abderrahim Chibi & Mohamed Benbouziane, 2024. "Public debt dynamics and fiscal sustainability in selected North African countries: new evidence from recurrent explosive behavior tests and quantile unit root analysis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-27, April.
    25. Júlio Vicente Cateia & Luc Savard & Clailton Ataídes de Freitas, 2022. "Economic impacts of infrastructure investment with different funding mechanisms: evidence from Guinea-Bissau," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2101226-210, December.
    26. Luis-Felipe Zanna & Edward F Buffie & Rafael Portillo & Andrew Berg & Catherine Pattillo, 2019. "Borrowing for Growth: Big Pushes and Debt Sustainability in Low-Income Countries," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(3), pages 661-689.
    27. Barry Eichengreen, 2004. "Capital Flows and Crises," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550598, April.
    28. Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1979. "Relative Deprivation and the Gini Coefficient," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(2), pages 321-324.
    29. Debi Prasad Bal & Badri Narayan Rath, 2014. "Public debt and economic growth in India: A reassessment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 292-300.
    30. Evans Kulu & William Gabriel Brafu-Insaidoo & James Atta Peprah & Eric Amoo Bondzie, 2022. "Government domestic debt arrears and private investment in Sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 190-204, January.
    31. Mohsin, Muhammad & Ullah, Hafeez & Iqbal, Nadeem & Iqbal, Wasim & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2021. "How external debt led to economic growth in South Asia: A policy perspective analysis from quantile regression," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 423-437.
    32. Andrea F. Presbitero, 2012. "Domestic debt in Low-Income Countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(2), pages 1099-1112.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Markus Eberhardt & Andrea Filippo Presbitero, 2013. "This Time They're Different: Heterogeneity;and Nonlinearity in the Relationship;between Debt and Growth," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 92, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    2. Lau, Evan & Moll de Alba, Jaime & Liew, Kim-Hing, 2022. "Debt and economic growth in Asian developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 599-612.
    3. İbrahim Özmen & Mihai Mutascu, 2024. "Public Debt and Growth: New Insights," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 8706-8736, June.
    4. Panizza, Ugo & Fatás, Antonio & Ghosh, Atish R. & ,, 2019. "The Motives to Borrow," CEPR Discussion Papers 13735, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Andrea F Presbitero, 2012. "Total Public Debt and Growth in Developing Countries," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 24(4), pages 606-626, September.
    6. Panizza, Ugo & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2014. "Public debt and economic growth: Is there a causal effect?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 21-41.
    7. Markus Eberhardt, 2013. "Nonlinearities in the Relationship between Debt and Growth: Evidence from Co-Summability Testing," Discussion Papers 2013/06, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    8. İbrahim ÖZMEN, 2022. "New Evidence from Government Debt and Economic Growth in Core and Periphery European Union Countries : Asymmetric Panel Causality," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 167-187, October.
    9. Boukhatem, Jamel & Kaabi, Malèk, 2015. "Dette publique, qualité institutionnelle et croissance économique dans les pays de la région MENA : analyse par la méthode des moments généralisés [Public debt, institutional quality and economic g," MPRA Paper 65756, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2015.
    10. Giovanna Bua & Juan Pradelli & Andrea Filippo Presbitero, 2013. "Domestic public debt in low-income countries: trends and structure," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 85, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    11. Eberhardt, Markus & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2015. "Public debt and growth: Heterogeneity and non-linearity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 45-58.
    12. Mitchener, Kris & Trebesch, Christoph, 2021. "Sovereign Debt in the 21st Century: Looking Backward, Looking Forward," CEPR Discussion Papers 15935, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Shvets, Serhii, 2017. "Internal public debt and economic growth: a case study of Ukraine," MPRA Paper 103873, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2017.
    14. repec:ecb:ecbops:2014165 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. João Basilio Pereima & Manuela Merki & Fernando Motta Correia, 2016. "Economic Growth And Public Debt: Addressing Unobserved Heterogeneity," Anais do XLIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 43rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 101, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    16. Octavio Augusto Fontes Tourinho & Rafael Sangoi, 2016. "Public Debt And Economic Growth: Tests Of The Reinhart-Rogoff Hypothesis," Anais do XLIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 43rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 085, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    17. Ikonen, Pasi, 2017. "Financial depth, debt, and growth," Bank of Finland Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, volume 0, number e51, July.
    18. Dieppe, Alistair & Mourinho Félix, Ricardo & Marchiori, Luca & Grech, Owen & Albani, Maria & Lalouette, Laure & Kulikov, Dmitry & Papadopoulou, Niki & Sideris, Dimitris & Irac, Delphine & Gordo Mora, , 2015. "Public debt, population ageing and medium-term growth," Occasional Paper Series 165, European Central Bank.
    19. Sailesh Tanna & Chengchun Li & Glauco De Vita, 2018. "The role of external debt in the foreign direct investment–growth relationship," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 393-412, October.
    20. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    21. Janice Boucher Breuer & John McDermott, 2019. "Debt And Depression," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(4), pages 714-730, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:7169-:d:1460660. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.