Economic Fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa
IMF Working Papers, March 5, 2018
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- Economic Fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Giovanni Melina, Rafael A Portillo
- Published: March 5, 2018
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484344880.001
Main findings
- 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.
Scope and subjects
- Comparison of business cycle fluctuations in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries versus the rest of the world.
- Subjects: 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.
Content in this bundle
- Economic Fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa, WP/18/40, March 2018