The impact of capital inflows on economic growth of Ghana: Does quality of institutions matter?

Abstract

The economic growth of most developing countries has been abysmal, and, therefore, has attracted the attention of researchers and policy think tanks. The present study contributes by estimating the impact of different forms of capital inflows on economic growth with evidence from Ghana. The study further examines the interaction effects of these inflows and quality of institutions on economic growth. The capital inflows considered in the study are foreign direct investment, remittances, foreign aid and external debt. Using annual time series data, spanning 1984–2018, the autoregressive distributed lag model is employed for the analysis. The results without interaction terms show that remittances have a positive impact on economic growth, whereas external debt and foreign direct investment impact economic growth negatively in the long run. Foreign aid exerts an insignificant impact in both the short and long run. However, the results reveal that external debt significantly impacts economic growth positively when interacted with quality of institutions variable in the long run. The results further reveal that remittances have a positive impact on economic growth in the long run when interacted with quality of institutions variable. It is, therefore, concluded that the quality of institutions in Ghana is crucial for economic growth. Important policy implications aimed at improving economic growth have been provided based on the findings.