The Role of Infrastructure in Debt-Growth Nexus: Evidence from ECOWAS Countries
Azeez Olarewaju Ahmed *
Department of Economics, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper investigates external debt-infrastructure-economic growth nexus for 15 ECOWAS countries spanning the period of 2000-2021. For the analysis, the novel cross-section-Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) was employed. The results indicate that external debt is detrimental to ECOWAS economic performance. Further, results infrastructure plays a critical role in accelerating economic performance of ECOWAS economies. In the light of these outcomes, it is vital for ECOWAS countries to formulate debt management policies by taking practical steps towards judicious utilization of public funds and eradicate misallocation of the borrowed funds.
Keywords: Hypostomatic, Infrastructure, Ginkgoalean, external debt, Raniganj, economic growth, Lower gondwana, CS-ARDL, Permian