The aim of this article is to analyse the nature of the relationship between public debt and economic growth in the WAEMU. A standard growth model was specified and then estimated in quadratic form from the GMM (GMM). The results show a non-linear relationship between public debt and economic growth. Thus, public debt stimulates economic growth when it does not exceed the threshold of 15% of GDP. Robustness tests show that public debt is boosting the economic conditions of countries with sound macroeconomic policies and good institutional quality.
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