THE NEXUS BETWEEN IMPORTS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SOUTH AFRICA: A DISAGGREGATED APPROACH

Abstract

In this study, the causal relationship between disaggregated imports and economic growth is investigated in South Africa. The study was motivated by the need to establish how South Africa can achieve the growth trajectory that is much needed by the country to achieve sustainable development goals. The study applied the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration and the ECM-based Granger causality test on annual time series data covering the period from 1988 to 2021. The findings confirmed a bidirectional causality between all measures of imports and economic growth, thereby confirming the significance of imports in buttressing economic growth. The findings point to the important role that imports play in achieving sustainable growth and development.