The Role of Macroeconomic Stability in Current Account Balances

Abstract

The role of macroeconomic stability in current account balances has not been studied with a calculated index in the literature until now. It is aimed to find out the role of macroeconomic stability in current account balances for the first time in the study. The analysis is completed for the period between 1980 and 2016 for 97 countries. The macroeconomic stability is represented by an index which is created with inflation rate, growth rate, unemployment rate and fiscal balance data of all the countries. It is found out that the macroeconomic stability is one of the important determinants of current account balances like institutional quality and financial development. It has a negative and statistically significant relationships with current account balances for four different country groups which are developing countries, all countries except industrial, all countries except industrial and African countries, and all countries. Results show that the macroeconomic stability is especially important for the developing countries rather than high income countries.