IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/snbeco/v4y2024i1d10.1007_s43546-023-00601-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fiscal policy sustainability and public debt in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Anselm Komla Abotsi

    (University of Education)

Abstract

The current rising levels of public debt among African countries require that African governments understand how the short- and medium-term sustainability of fiscal policy influences public debt accumulation. This study, therefore, tries to find out how cross‐country sustainability of fiscal policy has affected the accumulation of public debt among African countries. Secondary panel data spanning from 1996 to 2022 for 36 countries in Africa were used in this study. Using the system generalized method of moments estimating technique, while controlling for other variables, the study finds that the implementation of the short- and medium-term sustainable fiscal policy will result in a substantial reduction of public debt among African countries. It is recommended that governments formulate and implement sound, relevant, and sustainable fiscal policies to prevent excessive public debt accumulation in their various countries. Specifically, governments are encouraged to formulate prudent policies to manage the primary balance very well to ensure the sustainability of the public finances.

Suggested Citation

  • Anselm Komla Abotsi, 2024. "Fiscal policy sustainability and public debt in Africa," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:snbeco:v:4:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s43546-023-00601-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s43546-023-00601-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43546-023-00601-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43546-023-00601-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cooray, Arusha & Dzhumashev, Ratbek & Schneider, Friedrich, 2017. "How Does Corruption Affect Public Debt? An Empirical Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 115-127.
    2. Anselm Komla Abotsi, 2018. "Tolerable Level of Corruption for Foreign Direct Investment in Europe and Asia," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 12(3), September.
    3. Hlongwane, Nyiko Worship & Daw, Olebogeng David, 2022. "Determinants of public debt in South Africa: A Regime-Switching Approach," MPRA Paper 113203, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Christopher F Baum, 2006. "An Introduction to Modern Econometrics using Stata," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, number imeus, March.
    5. Abdul Waheed, 2017. "Determinants of External Debt: A Panel Data Analysis for Oil and Gas Exporting and Importing Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 234-240.
    6. Friedrich Heinemann, 2006. "Factor mobility, government debt and the decline in public investment," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 11-26, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Gang Gong & Alfred Greiner & Willi Semmler, 2001. "Growth Effects of Fiscal Policy and Debt Sustainability in the EU," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 28(1), pages 3-19, March.
    9. Anselm Komla Abotsi & Tongyai Iyavarakul, 2015. "Tolerable Level of Corruption for Foreign Direct Investment in Africa," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 9(3), September.
    10. Ilhèm Gargouri & Majdi Ksantini, 2016. "The Determinants Of Public Debt," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 18(59), pages 111-124, March.
    11. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    12. Ákos Dombi & István Dedák, 2019. "Public debt and economic growth: what do neoclassical growth models teach us?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(29), pages 3104-3121, June.
    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. Anselm K. Abotsi, 2023. "Factors influencing the ability to honour debt repayment obligations by Governments in Africa," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 876-885, January.
    2. Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo & Martínez-Vázquez, Jorge & Vulovic, Violeta, 2013. "Taxation and Economic Growth in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4583, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. 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.
    4. Huy Quang Doan, 2019. "Trade, Institutional Quality and Income: Empirical Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-23, May.
    5. Christoph S. Weber, 2018. "Central bank transparency and inflation (volatility) – new evidence," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 21-67, January.
    6. Nordin, Nur Naddia & Nordin, Nur Haiza, 2016. "Determinants of Innovation in Developing Countries: A Panel Generalized Method of Moments Analysis," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 50(2), pages 93-105.
    7. Cazzavillan, Guido & Olszewski, Krzysztof, 2012. "Interaction between foreign financial services and foreign direct investment in Transition Economies: An empirical analysis with focus on the manufacturing sector," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(4), pages 305-319.
    8. José María ARRANZ & Carlos GARCÍA SERRANO & Virginia HERNANZ, 2013. "Active labour market policies in Spain: A macroeconomic evaluation," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 152(2), pages 327-348, June.
    9. Ampofo, Gideon Minua Kwaku & Jinhua, Cheng & Bosah, Philip Chukwunonso & Ayimadu, Edwin Twum & Senadzo, Patrick, 2021. "Nexus between total natural resource rents and public debt in resource-rich countries:A panel data analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Dobbelaere, Sabien & Kiyota, Kozo & Mairesse, Jacques, 2015. "Product and labor market imperfections and scale economies: Micro-evidence on France, Japan and the Netherlands," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 290-322.
    11. Hasibuana Laras Kinanti & Evi Noor Afifah, 2023. "Feminization U Curve: Structural Transformation Impact on Female Labour Force Participation in Asia," Gadjah Mada Economics Working Paper Series 202308006, Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
    12. Balcilar, Mehmet & Gupta, Rangan & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Olasehinde-Williams, Godwin, 2018. "The synergistic effect of insurance and banking sector activities on economic growth in Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 637-648.
    13. Brockhaus, Jan & Huang, Jikun & Hu, Jiliang & Kalkuhl, Matthias & von Braun, Joachim & Yang, Guolei, 2015. "Rice, wheat, and corn supply response in China," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205988, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Mozumder, Lavlu & Islam, Mohammad Amirul, 2017. "Effects Of Remittances On Human Capital Development: An Empirical Analysis," Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, vol. 36(1-2), April.
    15. Cullmann, Astrid & Nieswand, Maria, 2016. "Regulation and investment incentives in electricity distribution: An empirical assessment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 192-203.
    16. M A B Siddique & Heru Wibowo & Yanrui Wu, 2014. "Fiscal Decentralisation and Inequality in Indonesia: 1999-2008," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 14-22, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    17. Karsten Staehr & Katri Urke, 2022. "The European structural and investment funds and public investment in the EU countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1031-1062, November.
    18. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Richard M. Bird, 2011. "Value-Added Tax: Onward and Upward?," Chapters, in: Emilio Albi & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Elgar Guide to Tax Systems, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Wang, Wencheng & Ning, Zinan & Shu, Yang & Riti, Joshua Sunday & Riti, Miriam-Kamah J., 2023. "Natural resource rents and public debts nexus in African resource-rich and most indebted nations: Issues with aggregation bias," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    20. Soukiazis, Elias & Antunes, Micaela, 2011. "Is foreign trade important for regional growth? Empirical evidence from Portugal," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 1363-1373, May.

    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:spr:snbeco:v:4:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s43546-023-00601-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.