The Risk of Capital Flight on Economic Growth and National Solvency: An Empirical Evidence from Palestine

Abstract

Capital flight is a serious concern and threat to any country's economy, regardless of its level of development, because it represents a squandered investment that lays the way for future problems. The capital flight occurred in Palestine as a result of economic mismanagement, which was worsened by bad policy decisions that robbed the government of much-needed financial resources. This research investigates the consequences of capital flight on Palestinian economic growth. To obtain these results, they used yearly time series data from (1981 to 2021). The Autoregressive Distributed Lag ARDL model is used to investigate the research variables and data gathered from various sources. The findings reveal that factors such as real GDP in Palestine, capital flight, foreign reserves, foreign debt, and domestic investment are all connected in the long and short term. Moreover, the outcomes of various transactions show that capital flight has a negative and significant impact. In contrast, foreign currency reserves, public debt, and direct investment positively influence long-term economic growth. To curb the growing flood of capital flight, the government must implement realistic economic reform programs. These economic improvements must concentrate on these three areas to achieve strong macroeconomic stability, openness and accountability in public finance management and a supportive environment for local production.