Macroeconomic Determinants of Capital Flight: Evidence from the Sub-Saharan African Countries

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the macroeconomic determinants of capital flight from the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between the period 1981-2015. The study used secondary data obtained from the World Bank Development Indicators (WDI) and applied the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model technique to determine the macroeconomic factors influencing capital flight from the SSA region. The results of the study showed that economic growth had a significant negative relationship with capital flight in both the long-run and short-run. Also, the outcome of the study revealed that external debt had a significant positive relationship with capital flight in the short-run. In addition, the study noted that economic variables such as interest rate spread, inflation, and trade openness have no significant influence on capital flight in the SSA region. Overall, the study revealed that economic growth rate and external debt constitute the macroeconomic fundamentals that influence the rate of capital flight from SSA countries.