Are Devaluations Contractionary in Africa?

Abstract

As far as the impact of devaluation on domestic production is concerned, African countries have not received much attention in the literature. One study that used panel data arrived at a general conclusion that devaluations are contractionary in Africa. In this paper, we consider the experience of 22 African countries with devaluation and use time series data to show that devaluations are indeed expansionary in eight countries and contractionary in five countries. In the remaining countries, they have no effect. © 2013 Copyright Institute of East and West Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul.