The sustainability of trade balances in sub-Saharan Africa: panel cointegration tests with cross-section dependence

This article investigates the sustainability of trade balances in the sub-Saharan African regions, using both the panel unit root (Im--Pesaran--Shin (IPS)) test proposed by Im <italic>et al.</italic> (2003) and the cross-sectionally augmented version of the IPS (Pesaran Cross-sectional IPS (CIPS)) test suggested by Pesaran (2007), where the former test is based on the assumption of cross-section independence and the latter actually considers cross-section independence. Although the empirical results based on the IPS test indicate that the balance of trade in the sub-Saharan African regions is sustainable, the empirical results of the CIPS test reveal that it is not sustainable. Since Cross-section Dependence (CD) was recognized using the CD test developed by Pesaran (2004), there is a possibility that the empirical results based on the IPS test are spurious.