INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT AND SAVINGS IN MENA ECONOMIES: AN EMPIRICAL APPROACH

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1 INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT AND SAVINGS IN MENA ECONOMIES: AN EMPIRICAL APPROACH Dr. Gülgün Çiğdem, Kadir Has University, Vocational School, Banking and Insurance, Istanbul, Turkey. id : gulguncigdem@gmail.com ABSTRACT: T he current account deficit is considered one of the leading indicators of crises. According to popular belief, current account deficits are caused by insufficient national savings. The purpose of this study is to discuss whether the inadequacy of national savings is the reason for the current account deficit. For this purpose, the MENA countries, which has a significant share due to their energy resources and geopolitical risks, will be addressed and the causality relations between the fact of savings and current account deficits, and whether they are co-integrated or not will be analyzed. Cointegration Tests and the Bounds Test will be used. Savings / gdp and current account deficit / gdp data for the period of will be considered as variables. This study is important in terms of proving the importance of savings empirically in MENA Countries. KEY WORDS: MENA Countries, Current Account Deficit, Savings, Bounds Test, Cointegration Test. JEL Classification Number: C10, E20, F20, F INTRODUCTION Current account balance is an important indicator of the performance of any economy and plays an important role in the analysis of economic developments and crises. Although there are various researches on the current account deficit, studies on the effects of savings on the current account deficit are insufficient. However, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have not been the focus of these studies as the area consists of many oil-exporting countries with uncomplicated external positions. MENA, which gains importance for the world, is one of the most sensitive regions in the world with its energy resources and has problems in terms of security and stability. The identification of the main cause of the current account deficit problem in such a sensitive region is important in terms of the selection of correct policies. The purpose of this article is to determine whether savings are the reason for the current account deficit in selected MENA countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia) between 1971 and Due to insufficient data, Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Yemen could not be included in the analysis. To our knowledge, no attempts have so far been made to investigate the relationship between current account deficit (CAD) and savings (S) in the selected countries. The theoretical model will then be empirically tested and in section 2, we substantiate the above-explained findings empirically using Engle- Granger and Bounds Test. And finally, section 3 provides some concluding remarks. 2. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS The existence of causal relations between the variables will be investigated in this section.figure 1 shows the parallels between current account deficit and savings in MENA Countries. 1

2 Figure 1: Current Account Deficit/Gdp and Savings/Gdp in MENA Countries ( ) Source: IMF. The charts for the series in MENA Countries are given at the end (Figure 2) METHODS In the study, unit root research is carried out and the stability of the series is examined using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) tests developed by Dickey and Fuller (1979) and Phillips and Perron (1988). Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root tests are taken as the level and first difference. Schwarz information criterion is used to determine appropriate delays. In the series, where cointegration is applied, compliance with the MacKinnon criteria is also examined. Different methods have been used to determine the causality relations between the variables according to the characteristics of the series. Cointegration Tests and the Bounds Test is applied according to the characteristics of the series. In order for cointegration to be applied, the series must demonstrate the same characteristics; Engle-Granger test could be applied to all except Kuwait and Sudan. In addition, the long-term relationship between the series has been analyzed with the Bounds Test, which allows application of cointegration to the series with different degrees of cointegration, in Kuwait and Sudan THE DATA AND THE EMPIRICAL RESULTS It is a common opinion that low saving ratios lead to current account deficits. To analyze this, it is possible to express the hypothesis of the study carried out as follows; : Savings does not causes Current Account Deficit : Savings causes Current Account Deficit To be able to do the work, I use annual time series data on savings/gdp and current account deficit/gdp for the period of for MENA Countries were obtained from IMF. The econometric model is formed as follows; = (1) CAD and S refer to the current account deficit and savings. In the econometric model, the causality relationship between savings and current account deficit and whether they are cointegrated or not will be analyzed. In the regression analysis, the current account deficit and savings will be considered as dependent and independent variables, respectively. In the first step of the analysis, the unit root properties of the data are investigated by using Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Philips and Perron (PP) unit root tests. The unit root results can be seen in Table 1. 2

3 Table 1: The Results of Unit Root Tests Critical Values Variables Test Statistics 0,01 0,05 0,1 Bahrain ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance Egypt ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance Jordan ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance Kuwait ADF CAD, level S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level S, level S, 1st differance Libya ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance Morocco ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level Saudi Arabia S, 1st differance ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level

4 S, 1st differance Sudan ADF CAD, level S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level S, level S, 1st differance Syrian Arab Republic ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance Tunisia ADF CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance PP CAD, level CAD, 1st differance S, level S, 1st differance Note: *** represents a significance level of 1%. The number of delays in the ADF tests is determined according to the Schwarz criteria. In the PP tests, the number of delays determined according to Newey-West Bandwith is taken. As a test format, fixed and trend equation options are used for all variables at the level value. The fixed equation option is used to obtain the first difference of the variables. MacKinnon critical values are contemplated. As can be seen from Table 1, the series have different characteristics. In Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic and Tunisia; in Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) analyzes, it was found that the series had a unit root value at the level. By taking the first differences, the series have been stabilized. In Kuwait and Sudan, the cad / gdp series are stationary at the level. At the next stage, the Bounds Test and the Engle-Granger Test were applied to determine the existence of long-term relationship T H E E N GLE-GRANGER TEST The hypothesis is rejected, as can be seen from Table 2, obtained after the regression equation is established, in Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia the series are co-ordinated. A long-lasting relationship has been established between the series. Countries Table 2: The Engle Granger Test Results T Statistics Mac Kinnon Critical Values (%1) Mac Kinnon Critical Values (%5) Mac Kinnon Critical Values (%10) Result Bahrain Long run relationship Egypt Jordan Long run relationship Libya Morocco Long run relationship Saudi Arabia Long run relationship Syrian Arab Republic Tunisia

5 The Engle Granger Test can not be applied to Kuwait and Sudan: variables are at T H E BOUNDS TEST The bounds test was applied to the two countries (Kuwait, Sudan) that did not apply the Engle-Granger. The Bounds Test results show that there are long term cointegration relations between variables in countries in Sudan. Table 3: The Bounds Test Results Country k F Statistics Cointegration Relation Kuwait ,79 4,85 Sudan ,79 4,85 Long run relationship Critical values are taken from Table CI (iii) of Pesaran et al. (2001) T H E R ESULTS The results of analyzes, where the long-term causality relationships between savings and current account deficit are tested, can be summarised as follows: In the long run, in Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, it is determined that savings and current account deficits are cointegrated. That is to say, existence of long-term relationships between the series has been found in these countries. No cointegration was found between the series in Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Syrian Arab, Tunisia. (Table 2-3). 3. C O N C L U D I N G R E MARKS This chapter investigates empirically the relationship between current account deficit and savings in ten MENA countries, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Tunisia, over the period In half of MENA economies, the series were found to be cointegrated in the long run. With this result it was emphasized that savings were an important factor in the formation of the current account deficit in MENA Economies. Since the Arab Spring 2011, MENA region, which is engaged in slow economic growth, increasing violence and civil war, macroeconomic imbalances caused by low oil prices, must develop policies to increase its savings in order to solve the current account deficit problem. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank Associated Professor Burcu Kıran, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Econometrics, for her help and her valuable contributions. REFERENCES 1. Dickey, David A., and Fuller, Wayne A. (June 1979). Distribution of the Estimators for Autoregressive Time Series With a Unit Root. Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol.74, Issue:366, pp Phillips, Peter C.B., and Perron, Pierre. (1988). Testing for a Unit Root in Time Series Regression. Biometrica, Vol.75, Issue:2, pp

6 Figure 2: Current Account Deficits and Domestic Savings in MENA Economies ( ) Bahrain Egypt Jordan Kuwait Libya Morocco Saudi Arabia Sudan Syrian Arab Republic Tunisia 6