External Debt, External Reserves, Debt Service Costs and Economic Growth: Implications for the Nigerian Transport Sector

The objective of the study presented in this article is to examine the relationship between external debt (EXDT), external reserves (EXRS), total debt service costs (TDS) and Nigeria’s economic growth (RGDP) and how these variables impact on the Nigerian transport economy employing profligacy theory. The study used secondary data for Nigeria for the period 1979 to 2019 obtained from the International Debt Office (WBG). The econometric techniques used include OLS, Granger causality and Engle-Granger cointegration at a 0.05 confidence level. The results show that EXDT has a statistically significant negative relationship with EXRS, with no statistically significant relationship existing with RGDP and TDS in the short term. All the variables showed significant cointegration over the long term, with the conclusion that the relationship between EXRS and EXDT is negatively significant in the short term, while the other variables are insignificant. The recommendations of the study include, that the government and monetary authorities should endeavour to reduce the creation of foreign debt for nonreproductive projects in key sectors due to its adverse effect on external reserves, and instead pursue aid, grants and domestic long-term loan options necessary for effective growth of the transport and other key sectors of the economy.