BRICS Economies: Assessing the Influence of Economic Policy Uncertainty and Fiscal Consolidation on Government Debt and Economic Growth

Abstract

This article investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and fiscal consolidation on government debt share to GDP and GDP in BRICS countries. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model from 2009 to 2022. The article gives insights into the relationship between EPU, fiscal consolidation and government debt share to GDP with the GDP in the BRICS countries, then advance economies which are mostly undertaken in literature. The findings of the article are that EPU has an insignificant impact on government debt share to GDP in the short and long run. However, fiscal consolidation has a significant impact on reducing government debt share to GDP in the long run. In terms of GDP, EPU has a significant negative impact in the long run but not in the short run. Fiscal consolidation has a significant positive impact on GDP in the short run. Fiscal consolidation is recommended as a growth policy that does not reduce government debt share to GDP.