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The impact of foreign debt and government debt on economic growth in South Africa

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  • Lerato Mothibi

    (North West University)

Abstract

Debt management has always been a major concern for many developing countries. South Africa?s foreign debt was reported to have reached its highest in 2017, where debt levels reached 48.8 percent of gross domestic product. At economically sustainable levels, borrowing in itself ought not to be an issue, however it is rather unfortunate that most sub-Saharan nations including South Africa have accumulated high, unsustainable amounts of debt, which may have constrained the progression of economic growth and development. Making use of the auto regressive distributive lag model (ARDL), this study examines the relationship between foreign debt and government debt on economic growth in South Africa from 1980 to 2018. The findings of the study reveal that sound debt management may lead to economic prosperity.

Suggested Citation

  • Lerato Mothibi, 2019. "The impact of foreign debt and government debt on economic growth in South Africa," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 9912015, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    • Handle: RePEc:sek:iacpro:9912015
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    Cited by:

    1. Hylton Hollander, 2021. "Debt-financed fiscal stimulus in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-152, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    South AfricaGovernment debtForeign debtEconomic growth;

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • C01 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Econometrics
    • B26 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Financial Economics

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