Remittances, Trade Balance and Economic Growth in West Africa Sub-region

Abstract

The impacts remittances and trade balance has on growth in West Africa sub-region was examine for the period 2007 to 2019. To this end, based on relevant theory a model was drawn. However, prior to estimation, reliability and validity of the data set was examined. This was followed by unit root test which shows that all variables attained stationarity at their first difference while Cointegration test indicated that there exists a long-run convergence among the variables. System Generalised Method of Moment estimation revealed that remittances inflows significantly and positively impact economic growth while trade balance exerted a negative and significant impact on economic growth. The over-identifying restrictions test of J-Statistics revealed that the instrument of measurement employed was valid. It was recommended among others that policy makers in West Africa should implement policies that continually encourage remittances inflow to the sub-region while ensuring that trade deficits emanates from productive investment.