This study examines the factors determining the demand for imports of the member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over the period from 1980 to 2017. As a modelling strategy, we employ the Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG) estimator that accounts for both heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence across countries. The study provides various pieces of evidence through whole-panel and country-level analyses. The results from the panel analysis indicate that income, relative price of imports, foreign direct investment and remittances are significant determinants of import demand in ECOWAS. Income, relative price and remittances have, on average, positive effect on import in the long run. In the short run, all explanatory variables are positively related to imports. Country-level results reveal, however, considerable heterogeneity across countries in the relationship between import demand and its determinants.
KeywordsImports DemandEconomic GrowthCCEMGECOWAS
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