Import Elasticities of Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries: Some Empirical Evidence

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Periodical article

Title:	Import Elasticities of Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries: Some Empirical Evidence
Author:	Agbonyitor, Alberto D.K.
Year:	1986
Periodical:	Eastern Africa Economic Review
Volume:	2
Issue:	2
Period:	December
Pages:	129-135
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Subsaharan Africa Ethiopia Ghana Ivory Coast - Côte d'Ivoire Liberia Niger Malawi Nigeria Senegal Somalia Sudan Tanzania
Subjects:	imports Economics and Trade
Abstract:	Imported capital and intermediate goods are a major source of capital formation in developing countries and, in sub-Saharan Africa, there has been increased dependence on food imports. This study draws on the data from the IMF and World Bank trade system for the 1960s and 1970s to the early 1980s to estimate import elasticities of four major commodity groups (food, machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum, intermediate goods) for fourteen sub-Saharan African countries and confirms the elastic income coefficient that oil imports tend to grow at a rate more than one percent for a unit percent growth in real GDP. For oil and food imports, the price coefficients are significantly different from zero in most of the countries. Bibliogr., notes.