Energy Consumption and Economic Growth: Evidence from COMESA Countries

This study applies panel data techniques to investigate the long-run relationship between energy consumption and GDP for a panel of 19 African countries (COMESA) based on annual data for the period 1980-2005. In the first step, we examine the degree of integration between GDP and energy consumption by employing three panel unit root tests and find that the variables are integrated of order one. In the second step, we investigate the long-run relationship between energy consumption and GDP. Results overwhelming show that GDP and energy consumption move together in the long-run. In the third step, we estimate the long-run relationship and test for causality using panel-based error correction models. The results indicate that long-run and short-run causality is unidirectional, running from energy consumption to GDP.