Return to search

External financial flows, domestic savings and economic growth in the Southern African development community (SADC)(1980-2013)

.Most countries in the SADC region experience low levels of domestic savings. This calls for the need to explore other sources of financial flows to bridge the gap between domestic capital demand and supply, and one such source is external financial flows. It is with this background that this study examined the relationship between the different forms of external financial flows, domestic savings and economic growth in the SADC region for the period from 1980 to 2013. Firstly the study examined the impact of the different forms of external financial flows on economic growth in the region. The empirical results revealed that FDI, CBF and remittances have a significant impact on economic growth in the SADC region. ODA was however found to be insignificant. When the different types of external financial flows were interacted with institutions they all became significant in explaining economic growth in the region. The second aspect was to examine the extent to which external financial flows complement or displace domestic saving. The empirical results revealed that external financial flows with the exception of ODA complement domestic savings in the region. In addition, there is evidence of investment generating additional savings in the region, which is likely to be through the economic growth channel. The last objective of the study was to examine the determinants of external financial flows to the SADC region. The empirical results revealed that both push and pull factors are important in determining external financial flows in the region. Of great importance was the observation that events in the source country determine financial flows to the region. Proxy for financial integration was found to be positive though insignificant, pointing out that the region may not be benefiting from cross-border bank flows due to the region being disintegrated. This suggests that the region may benefit from increased cross-border bank flows if the region is integrated. Overall, the results from the study suggest that external financial flows are important to the region in providing the much needed development finance. However this also suggests that the foreign capital channel is another source in which a crisis from a developed country can be transmitted to the SADC region.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufh/vital:29100
Date January 2016
Creatorskapingura, Forget Mingri
PublisherUniversity of Fort Hare, Faculty of Management and Commerce
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis, Doctoral, Degree
Format192 leaves, pdf
RightsUniversity of Fort Hare

Page generated in 0.4542 seconds