Economic Fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa

March 5, 2018

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Format: Chicago

Giovanni Melina, and Rafael A Portillo. Economic Fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2018) accessed December 22, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

We compare business cycle fluctuations in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Our main results are as follows: (i) African economies stand out by their macroeconomic volatility, which is is reflected in the volatility of output and other macro variables; (ii) inflation and output tend to be negatively correlated; (iii) unlike advanced economies and emerging markets (EMs), trade balances and current accounts are acyclical in SSA; (iv) the volatility of consumption and investment relative to GDP is larger than in other countries; (v) the cyclicality of consumption and investment is smaller than in advanced economies and EMs; (vi) there is little comovement between consumption and investment; (vii) consumption and investment are strongly positively correlated with imports.

Subject: Balance of payments, Business cycles, Consumption, Current account, Economic growth, Inflation, International trade, National accounts, Prices, Trade balance

Keywords: Business cycles, Comparative studies of countries, Consumption, Current account, Developing economies, GDP deflator, Global, Inflation, Italic, Low income countries, Macroeconomic fluctuations, SSA countries consist, SSA economy, SSA group, SSA LLMIC, Sub-Saharan Africa, Trade balance, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

32
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2018/040
Stock No:

WPIEA2018040
ISBN:

9781484344880
ISSN:

1018-5941

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