Abstract
For many years, the quest for sustained economic growth has remained a paramount agenda for developing and emerging economies. However for many of these economies, this goal remains elusive as the myriad of reforms implemented have often failed to yield desired results. The literature is replete with many studies aimed at identifying the sources of growth. Yet the role of energy access and utilization has received little attention, likewise the role of exports. To fill this void and offer direction to policy in emerging economies, this study attempts to investigate the impact of energy use and exports in fostering economic growth and development using Ghanaian data. Findings from this paper reveal that energy consumption and exports are key drivers of economic growth in Ghana. Hence, development policy in the country and beyond must be designed to give careful consideration towards integrating energy policy and export-promotion in order to harness the growth potentials of other sectors of the economy.
Highlights
The quest for economic growth has been pursued rigorously by economies around the world since the great depression
The ensuing results from the cointegration tests confirm the presence of a long run equilibrium relationship between real GDP and real nonexport GDP and their respective long run forcing variables i.e., energy consumption, exports, capital, financial development and foreign aid
The purpose of this study is to access the contributions of energy consumption and exports on economic growth in the context of an emerging economy-Ghana
Summary
The quest for economic growth has been pursued rigorously by economies around the world since the great depression. Development experts opine the structural adjustment and economic liberalization policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and implemented in Sub-Saharan African economies in the 1980s-90s did not yield the needed impact of spurring growth in the region (Cornia and Helleiner, 1994; Stewart, 1991; UNRISD, 1995; Killick, 1996). Development policy in developing and emerging economies have been focused on attracting foreign direct investment and boosting exports. The success of these policies in generating the needed growth depends to a large extent on the provision of infrastructure energy. Distribution and consumption of goods and services in all sectors of the economy hinge on the supply of reliable energy services (Mensah, 2014)
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