IMPACT OF EXPORTS AND IMPORTS ON THE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN BURUNDI

This paper investigated the impact of exports and imports on the economic growth in Burundi. To achieve this purpose, annual data for the periods between 1989 and 2018 were tested. The study used Granger Causality and Johansen Co-integration approach for long-run relationship Using Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillip-Perron (PP) stationarity test, the variable proved to be integrated of the order I(1) at first difference. Johansen and Juselius Co-integration test was used to determine the presence or otherwise of a co-integrating vector in the variables. To find out the direction of causality among the variables, at least in the short-run, the Pairwise Granger Causality was carried out. Exports were found to Granger Cause imports. The results show that there is unidirectional causality between exports and imports. These results provide evidence that growth in Burundi was propelled by a growth-led import strategy as well as export-led import. Imports are thus seen as the source of economic growth in Burundi. KEYWORDS: Co-integration, Granger causality; Exports; Imports; Economic growth, Burundi.