Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirement for the MSc in Finance FINANCE DISSERTATION ON THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC DEBT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ASEAN COUNTRIES IN THE PERIOD FROM 2001 TO 2023 VU MINH KHUE ID No: 23081327 Intake 1 Supervisor: Assoc. To Kim Ngoc September, 2024 PROTESTATION Student Name: Vu Minh Khue Student Number: 23081327 Supervisor’s name: Assoc. To Kim Ngoc I, To Kim Ngoc, hereby confirm that I have supervised the research and preparation of the student’s dissertation. I have reviewed the content, structure, and methodology used in the Dissertation and found it to be satisfactory quality.
I am confident that the Dissertation meets the requirements set forth by the University of the West of England and is ready for examination. Signature of Student and Date Signature of Supervisor and Date Date: 08 September 2024 Date: 08 September 2024 ACKNOWLEDGMENT To finish my thesis, I want to express my appreciation to the UWE Bristol and Banking Academy Vietnam because you create opportunities for me to study, practice and accumulate knowledge and skills to carry out the thesis. Especially, I really want to thank Ph. To Kim Ngoc, my thesis instructor for carefully guiding, monitoring and giving useful advice to help me solve the problems encountered during the research and completing my thesis in the best way.
Due to the limitation of knowledge and the lack of practical experience, my thesis content may have shortcomings and I look forward to receiving more advice and instruction from you. Finally, I would like to wish you all the best of health and success in your work. Best regards Vu Minh Khue TABLE OF CONTENT I. Data collection method.
9 Chapter 1: Literature Review. Concepts and Theory of Public Debt. 17 Chapter 2: Overview of the relationship between public debt and economic growth in ASEAN countries in the period from 2001 to 2023. Overview of the impact of public debt on economic growth in ASEAN countries in the period from 2001 to 2023.
The empirical model: TAR model by Kremer et al (2013). 23 Chapter 3: Research Methodology. Data Collection Method. 27 Chapter 4: Results and Analysis.
Descriptive statistics and Data Correlation Test. 31 Chapter 5: General Discussion for ASEAN countries. Results Discussion for ASEAN countries. Recommendations for ASEAN countries.
55 LIST OF FIGRURES Figures Pages Figure 1: Descriptive Statistic Table for Dataset 30 Figure 2: Correlation Matrix 31 Figure 3: The results of TAR model for the 1st regime in Brunei 33 Figure 4: The results of TAR model for the 2nd regime in Brunei 34 Figure 5: The result of Wald Test for Brunei TAR model 35 Figure 6: The result of Stationary Test for Brunei TAR model 35 Figure 7: The results of TAR model for 1st regime in Singapore 36 Figure 8: The results of TAR model for 2nd regime in Singapore 37 Figure 9: The result of Wald Test for Singapore TAR model 38 Figure 10: The result of Stationary Test for Singapore TAR model 38 Figure 11: The results of TAR model for the 1st regime in medium- 39 developed ASEAN countries Figure 12: The results of TAR model for the 2nd regime in medium- 40 developed ASEAN countries Figure 13: The result of Wald Test for medium-developed countries 41 TAR model Figure 14: The result of Stationary Test for medium-developed 42 countries TAR model Figure 15: The results of TAR model for the 1st regime in less- 43 developed ASEAN countries Figure 16: The results of TAR model for the 2nd regime in medium- 44 developed ASEAN countries Figure 17: The result of Wald Test for less-developed countries TAR 44 model Figure 18: The result of Stationary Test for less-developed countries 45 TAR model THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC DEBT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ASEAN COUNTRIES IN THE PERIOD FROM 2001 TO 2023 I. Research Motivation ASEAN region is known as a region having diversified economic scales, development levels as well as fiscal policies among ASEAN countries groups. This leads to the crucial need to conduct research studying the relationship between public debt and economic growth in ASEAN countries, especially in the period from 2001 to 2023 when there are many changes of regional and global economy, thereby, this research hopes to encourage suitable policies helping these countries build a sustainable and stable regional economy. The irregular development of ASEAN countries leading to the different impacts of public debt on economic growth in different groups of ASEAN countries Based on the economic growth criteria including GDP per capita, the level of industrialization, economic structures and development potential, ASEAN countries can be divided into three groups which are high-developed countries (Singapore, Brunei), medium-developed countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia) and less-developed countries (Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar).
This kind of grouping makes the impact of public debt on economic growth different among these groups. Hence, when understanding the public debt impact levels of each country can give an overview of public debt situation and find out the safe public debt thresholds for each group. Besides, conducting this research also helps ASEAN government consider which ASEAN countries should leverage public debt for public spending and public investment to promote their economic growth. In addition, exploring the relationship between public debt and economic growth in ASEAN countries also helps to uncover differences in ways that these countries use public debt to develop their economies.
Public debt can be used to finance infrastructure, health, education, and social security projects, but it can also lead to debt burdens and negative impacts on the economy if not managed well. This study will help to better 1 identify the specific elements of each country’s fiscal policies and thereby provide recommendations for improving public debt management. Two economic shocks affected public debt situations in each ASEAN group in the period from 2001 to 2023 In the period from 2001 to 2023, there are two economic shocks which are global financial crisis in 2008 and the global economic crisis during Covid 19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. These events have had an impact on public debt situation in medium- developed and less-developed countries however, for public debt in high-developed countries, public debt situation seemed like not being affected by these shocks.
Hence, conducting the research studying the impact of public debt on economic development of each ASEAN countries group will help each group assess the efficiency of public debt used during these crisis periods, as well as provide solutions to enhance public debt management to guarantee sustainable economic development in the future. The impact of two factors namely inflation and trade openness along with the public debt situation on economic growth during the period from 2001 to 2023 Besides, the other factor which are needed to be concerned in this research is the impact of inflation and trade openness on the relationship between public debt and economic growth. Inflation can reduce the real value of public debt, but at the same time, it is also able to put pressure on the economy if not well controlled. Trade openness can help increase trade and investment, but also pose challenges in managing capital flows and controlling public debt.
As a result, research on the relationship between public debt and economic growth in ASEAN countries during the period from 2001 to 2023 will help explaining the role of these factors, thereby making recommendations on policies to adjust inflation and manage economic openness, to ensure that public debt is used effectively and does not pose major risks to economic growth. The importance of sustainable fiscal policies Studying the relationship between public debt and economic growth in each ASEAN group helps providing recommendations on sustainable fiscal policy. In the context of countries seeking to balance between promoting economic growth and managing public debt, an effective and sustainable fiscal policy is an important factor to achieve this goal. 2 A sustainable fiscal policy not only ensures that public debt is used effectively to promote economic growth, but also helps countries minimize fiscal risks, maintain public debt levels under control, and facilitate long-term economic stability.
Studying the relationship between public debt and economic growth over the period 2001-2023 will help to better identify the challenges that ASEAN countries are facing in maintaining a sustainable fiscal policy, thereby proposing specific policy solutions. In short, it is essential to conduct research studying the impact of public debt on economic growth in each ASEAN group in the period from 2001 to 2023, especially when each country suffered from the two economic crises. This study will help clarify the impact of public debt on economic growth, thereby providing specific policy recommendations to support ASEAN countries in managing public debt and promoting sustainable economic development. Research Issues When conducting research studying the impact of public debt on economic growth in each ASEAN group in the period from 2001 to 2023, there are several research issues that this research needs to solve.
These issues are presented below: The first issue is that due to the difference in economic structures and development levels among three groups of ASEAN countries, whether public debt in less-developed and medium-developed ASEAN countries (Vietnam, Thailand, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar) actually generate strong economic growth or whether it leads to debt burdens and persistent fiscal deficits. Moreover, for high- developed ASEAN countries (Singapore and Brunei), if public debt does not have any impact on economic growth of these countries due to its independence on using public debt for public spending and public investment in short-term period, whether these countries should use public debt or not. The second issue this research concerns is that debt management capacity and fiscal sustainability in ASEAN countries in the period from 2001 to 2023. In studied period, many countries faced with high public debt, especially during global financial crisis in 2008 and Covid 19 pandemic.
ASEAN countries which have strong fiscal policies and effective debt management, public debt can be an important tool for promoting economic growth. However, in countries with weak debt management systems or 3 lacking strong fiscal controls, public debt can lead to excessive debt, increasing borrowing costs and reducing future public spending capacity. Therefore, research needs to thoroughly consider about how these countries manage their public debt and their fiscal control capabilities in the context of economic growth. The third issue this research concerns is the impact of global economic shocks.
Public debt and economic growth during 2001-2023 cannot be studied in isolation from global economic fluctuations. Global financial crisis in 2008 and Covid 19 pandemic have had a profound impact on the public debt of each ASEAN countries group. During the crises, many countries were forced to borrow to maintain economic stability and provide fiscal support packages to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn. This study needs to examine how ASEAN countries used public debt during these crisis periods and its impact on economic growth in the following years.
In general, research on the impact of public debt on economic growth in ASEAN countries in the period from 2001 to 2023 is a complicated process and requires careful analysis of many different factors, from differences in economic structure and fiscal management to the impact of global shocks. Geographical scope The research focuses on studying the impact of public debt on economic growth of 3 groups of ASEAN countries in the period 2001 - 2023. These three groups of countries are: - High-developed countries: Singapore, Brunei - Medium-developed countries: Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia - Less-developed countries: Vietnam, Philippines, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia The reason for this division of ASEAN countries into three groups is based on previous empirical studies, ASEAN countries have different growth rates and ways of using public debt, so grouping ASEAN countries for study allows to observe the level of impact of public debt, different safe public debt ceilings between groups of countries in the period from 2001 to 2023.