Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Economies of West Africa

Abstract

Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Economies of West Africa Hassane Mahamad Velonjara, Igor-Mathieu Gondje-Dacka Abstract This paper examines the contribution of foreign direct investment to economic growth through the main sector of economy in 5 Low-Income economies (Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone) and 4 Lower-middle-income economies (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal) of West Africa. Using regression model and the Granger causality test with a panel data for the period 2000-2016, we discovered that on all West Africa’s region the FDI’s contribution is positive but not significant with an autocorrelation positive. Therefore, by studying the case of each country we note that the majority has positive FDI and few are negative, also le majority of those countries have a negative autocorrelation. Our result show that only primary sector is negative and the secondary and tertiary sector are positive but all are not significant for the whole region but in individual result of the country, it is the tertiary sector which influences more the growth before the primary and secondary sectors. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jeds.v7n4a5