Quantifying Climate Risks: SVAR Analysis on Inflation and Economic Growth in Egypt

Abstract

: Climate change poses a critical challenge in our era. In this study, we use quantitative methodology to examine the effect of natural disasters on inflation and GDP growth caused by weather. Using time series data for Egypt spanning the period 1965-2021. Based on Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR), the analysis reveals that inflation and growth respond very modestly to weather-related natural disasters but differ regarding the direction and magnitude of climate shocks. Temperature shocks, storms, and floods lead to a decrease in inflation rates, while earthquakes increase inflation rates. While flood shocks appear to lead to a permanent increase in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the effects of temperature, storms, and earthquakes are more volatile and less persistent in the long run. In the case of temperature shocks, the growth slowdown extends beyond seven years from the shock. At this point, real GDP growth is lower by approximately 3.8 percentage points than if the temperature shock had not occurred.