IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfb/journl/v11y2019i2p91-101.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Domestic Investment in Africa: Why the Emerging Public Debt Spiral Matters?

Author

Listed:
  • Fisayo Fagbemi
  • Olufemi Solomon Olatunde

Abstract

Given the prevailing view that public borrowing could be a springboard for boosting domestic investment levels in any economy, leveraging on multiple sources of finance to meet development financing needs is critical. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the bleak investment landscape in the face of the emerging public debt spiral is worrying. Therefore, the study examines the effect of public debt on domestic investment in 33 SSA countries using Corrected Standard Error Estimation (PCSE) and one – step System GMM dynamic panel estimations over the period of 2000-2017. Empirical findings reveal that both debt (% of GDP) and external debt stocks (% of GNI) have a negative effect on domestic investment, implying that rising public debt tends to have adverse influence on investment levels across countries in SSA. Thus, the study posits that ensuring sustainable funding of developmental projects through the adoption of recent financial instruments that embed more resilience into the structure of public debt is central. Also, policy actors should introduce measures that could stimulate public investment efficiency, with borrowed funds effectively channeled towards investment-inducing projects such as infrastructure development for improved economic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Fisayo Fagbemi & Olufemi Solomon Olatunde, 2019. "Domestic Investment in Africa: Why the Emerging Public Debt Spiral Matters?," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 11(2), pages 91-101, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfb:journl:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:91-101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://rfb.ase.ro/articole/Articol4_v11_i2.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catherine Pattillo & Hélène Poirson & Luca Antonio Ricci, 2011. "External Debt and Growth," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 2(3).
    2. Forni, Lorenzo & Monteforte, Libero & Sessa, Luca, 2009. "The general equilibrium effects of fiscal policy: Estimates for the Euro area," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3-4), pages 559-585, April.
    3. Checherita-Westphal, Cristina & Rother, Philipp, 2010. "The impact of high and growing government debt on economic growth: an empirical investigation for the euro area," Working Paper Series 1237, European Central Bank.
    4. Graciela L. Kaminsky & Carmen M. Reinhart & Carlos A. Végh, 2005. "When It Rains, It Pours: Procyclical Capital Flows and Macroeconomic Policies," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2004, Volume 19, pages 11-82, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    6. Bernardin Senadza & Agbemavor Korsi Fiagbe & Peter Quartey, 2017. "The Effect of External Debt on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 11(1), pages 61-69, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Vratislav Izák, 2014. "Private and Public Debt," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(1), pages 4-21.
    9. Jaejoon Woo & Manmohan S. Kumar, 2015. "Public Debt and Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82(328), pages 705-739, October.
    10. Marattin, Luigi & Salotti, Simone, 2011. "On the usefulness of government spending in the EU area," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 780-795.
    11. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    12. Faraji Kasidi & A. Makame Said, 2013. "Impact of External Debt on Economic Growth: A Case Study of Tanzania," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 3(4), pages 1-6.
    13. Bert Hofman & Helmut Reisen, 1991. "Some evidence on debt-related determinants of investment and consumption in heavily indebted countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 127(2), pages 281-299, June.
    14. Nora Traum & Shu‐Chun S. Yang, 2015. "When Does Government Debt Crowd Out Investment?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 24-45, January.
    15. Isaac Sánchez-Juárez & Rosa García-Almada, 2016. "Public Debt, Public Investment and Economic Growth in Mexico," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-14, March.
    16. R. Vergara, 2010. "Taxation and private investment: evidence for Chile," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 717-725.
    17. Afia Malik, 2013. "Private Investment And Fiscal Policy In Pakistan," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 83-109, March.
    18. Niels Hermes & Robert Lensink, 2001. "Fiscal Policy and Private Investment in Less Developed Countries," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-32, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. repec:bla:kyklos:v:45:y:1992:i:3:p:363-78 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Andreas Savvides, 1992. "Investment Slowdown in Developing Countries During the 1980s: Debt Overhang or Foreign Capital Inflows?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 363-378, August.
    21. repec:aer:wpaper:89 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Jernej Mencinger & Aleksander Aristovnik & Miroslav Verbic, 2014. "The Impact of Growing Public Debt on Economic Growth in the European Union," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 16(35), pages 403-403, February.
    23. Nora Traum & Shu‐Chun S. Yang, 2015. "When Does Government Debt Crowd Out Investment?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 24-45, January.
    24. Nora Traum & Shu-Chun Susan Yang, 2010. "Does Government Debt Crowd Out Investment? A Bayesian DSGE Approach: Working Paper 2010-02," Working Papers 21397, Congressional Budget Office.
    25. Vera Ogeh Soli & Simon Kwadzogah Harvey & Edmond Hagan, 2008. "Fiscal policy, private investment and economic growth: the case of Ghana," Studies in Economics and Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 112-130, June.
    26. Iyoha, M.A., 1999. "External Debt and Economic Growth in Sub-SAharan African Countries: an Econometric Study," Papers 90, African Economic Research Consortium.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fisayo Fagbemi & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "Public Debt-Investment Nexus: the Significance of Investment-Generation Policy in West Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/083, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    2. Fisayo Fagbemi & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "Public Debt-Investment Nexus: the Significance of Investment-Generation Policy in West Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/083, African Governance and Development Institute..
    3. Fisayo Fagbemi & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "Public Debt-Investment Nexus: the Significance of Investment-Generation Policy in West Africa," Working Papers 20/083, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).

    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. 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.
    2. Fisayo Fagbemi & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "Public Debt-Investment Nexus: the Significance of Investment-Generation Policy in West Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/083, African Governance and Development Institute..
    3. 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.
    4. Fisayo Fagbemi & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "Public Debt-Investment Nexus: the Significance of Investment-Generation Policy in West Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/083, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    5. Helder Ferreira de Mendonça & Ytallo Brito, 2021. "The link between public debt and investment: an empirical assessment from emerging markets," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(50), pages 5864-5876, October.
    6. Bernardin Senadza & Agbemavor Korsi Fiagbe & Peter Quartey, 2017. "The Effect of External Debt on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 11(1), pages 61-69, December.
    7. repec:eco:journ1:2014-02-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Fisayo Fagbemi & Opeoluwa A. Adeosun, 2020. "Public Debt-Investment Nexus: the Significance of Investment-Generation Policy in West Africa," Working Papers 20/083, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    9. Wamboye, Evelyn, 2012. "External debt, trade and FDI on economic growth of least developed countries," MPRA Paper 39031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Iordanis Kalaitzoglou & Beatrice Durgheu, 2016. "Financial growth and Economic Growth in Europe : Is the Euro Beneficial for All Countries?," Post-Print hal-00859252, HAL.
    11. De Vita, Glauco & Trachanas, Emmanouil & Luo, Yun, 2018. "Revisiting the bi-directional causality between debt and growth: Evidence from linear and nonlinear tests," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 55-74.
    12. Bitar, Nicholas & Chakrabarti, Avik & Zeaiter, Hussein, 2018. "Were Reinhart and Rogoff right?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 614-620.
    13. Ben Ltaief, Leila, 2014. "Dette publique et croissance économique : investigation empirique pour la zone euro, l’Union européenne et les pays avancés," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 90(2), pages 79-103, Juin.
    14. 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.
    15. Siméon Koffi, 2019. "Nonlinear Impact of Public Debt on Economic Growth: Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Countries [Impact non linéaire de la dette publique sur la croissance: Evidence à partir des pays de l'Afrique ," Post-Print hal-02293757, HAL.
    16. SAUNGWEME, Talknice & ODHIAMBO, Nicholas M., 2018. "Public Debt Service And Economic Growth: A Survey Of International Literature," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 18(2), pages 129-142.
    17. Mohanty, Ranjan Kumar & Panda, Sidheswar, 2019. "How Does Public Debt affect the Indian Macroeconomy? A Structural VAR Approach," Working Papers 19/250, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    18. Taner Turan & Halit Yanıkkaya, 2021. "External debt, growth and investment for developing countries: some evidence for the debt overhang hypothesis," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 20(3), pages 319-341, September.
    19. Mencinger, Jernej & Verbic, Miroslav & Aristovnik, Aleksander, 2015. "Revisiting the role of public debt in economic growth: The case of OECD countries," MPRA Paper 67704, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Ranjan Kumar Mohanty & Sidheswar Panda, 2019. "How Does Public Debt Affect the Indian Macroeconomy? A Structural VAR Approach," Working Papers id:12980, eSocialSciences.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rfb:journl:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:91-101. 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: Tatu Lucian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ffasero.html .

    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.