An Empirical Time Series Analysis on the Determinants of Gross National Saving in Ethiopia. ARDL Approach for Co-integration

Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, Addis Ababa University (Addis Ababa University), course: Economics, language: English, abstract: The objective of this paper was to investigate the macroeconomic determinants of gross national saving in Ethiopia using time series annual data form 1970/71-2010/11. In this study, effort has been made to identify the long run and short run determinants of national saving in Ethiopia using an ARDL bounds testing approach and ECM to capture both short run and long run relationships. Estimated results revealed that financial development (FD) and Current account deficit (CAD) are significant determinants of gross national saving in Ethiopia in the long run. But gross national disposable income (LGNDI), dependency ratio (DR), budget deficit (BD) and inflation, approximated by consumer price index (CPI), found to be statistically insignificant determinants of gross national saving in Ethiopia in the long run.
However, in the short run, except consumer price index (CPI) and dependency ratio (DR) the rest of the explanatory variables such as gross national disposable income (LGNDI), financial development (FD), current account deficit (CAD) and budget deficit (BD) found to have statistically significant meaning in explaining gross national saving in Ethiopia. The speed of adjustment has value 0.66978 with negative sign, which showed the convergence of saving model towards long run equilibrium. The overall findings of the study underlined the importance of raising the level of income in a sustainable manner, minimizing the adverse impacts of budget deficit and inflation rate and creating competitive environment in the financial sector.