أثر الحوكمة على عوائد الموارد الطبيعية : دراسة تطبيقية مع إشارة للدول العربية[The Impact of Governance on Returns of Natural Resources: An Empirical Study with References to Arab Countries]

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of governance (especially of natural resources) on returns of natural resources sector (specifically oil and natural gas). In addition, It also examines whether governance turn point exists or not. The natural resources governance index used in this research was drawn from the Revenue Watch Institute for the year 2013 while the natural resources rent, GDP, and natural resources depletion data were obtained from the World Bank Database. The study covered fifty-six countries; ten of them are Arabian countries. And it adopted the cross-sectional data framework, the Ordinary Least Square estimation technique is used for the analysis. The research found that governance, GDP, and depletion of natural resources impact positively on the returns of natural resources. The research also found that there is a turning point for governance which means that after a given level of governance the significant positive impact diverted to be a significant negative impact. The research advocates that the last result may be due to the maximized governance after optimal level may lead to bureaucracy or/and combat the corruption in natural resources sector which lead to a drop in natural resources returns. The results suggest that firstly, it's necessary to provide a legislative guarantee to ensure ease of access to data related to the natural resources sector. Secondly, apply the disclosure standards of the contracts entered by the government with companies worked in the natural resources sector. Thirdly, publish periodic reports on the financial receipts and licensing revenues and assess both of the economic and environmental returns in the exploitation of natural resources projects. Fourthly, application of accountability standards begins with setting clear selection criterions for top management in both of public companies and governmental agencies related to the natural resources sector. Fifthly, publish financial data of natural resources funds in terms of assets and how to manage those funds. Sixthly, encourage the cooperation with international organizations which interested in governance, for example, joining the World Bank's initiative to promote transparency in the extractive industries, which indicate to good intentions from the government to apply the principles of governance. Finally, by analyzing the returns of natural resources - oil and natural gas only - in terms of value in Arab countries, it notes that there are ten Arab countries that have about 648.8 billion US Dollar in the year 2014. Therefore, the share of the ten Arab countries is about 21% of the total revenue of the natural resources in the world in 2014. This fact indicates that Arab countries are a major player in the natural resources market. So, any attempts to reform the natural resources sector will lead to positive effects on the whole economy performance