The Influence of Investment Legislation on the Macroeconomic Performance of the CEMAC Region

Abstract

The countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) adopted in 1999 a common investment legislation which member countries adapted to their specific realities to improve the economic climate and to guarantee sustained economic growth. This paper while recognizing that a majority of the countries in the sub-region had experimented country-specific investment codes before the formulation of the common investment legislation, contends that the Common investment legislation has had a positive effect on macroeconomic performance of the sub-region. Data for the study is collected from the World Bank Development Indicators, covering a period of 18 years from 1995 to 2012. The estimation technique used for this study is the generalized method of moments (GMM). The analyses showed that the adoption of the common investment legislation had a significant positive relationship with the macroeconomic performance of the sub-region. Also, it was shown that investment legislation, private and public investments play a positive and statistically significant influence on the level of macroeconomic performance in the sub-region. From a policy perspective, given that investment legislation improves macroeconomic performance, it should be continuously revised and adapted to the specific current and future exigencies and prospects for growth.