Dynamics of Integration and Economic Growth of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)

The objective of the study is to determine the effect of the dynamics of regional integration on economic growth in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). The autoregressive vector analysis using the Cholesky decomposition used data from the Central Bank of West African States, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development statistics, and world development indicators. The results show that the overall contribution of a WAEMU country to integration accounts for 0.5% of the variation in growth in the community area over the long term. The effects of the free trade area and the customs union are respectively higher on economic growth than economic union and economic and monetary union. The establishment of an effective free trade area would lead to better economic growth. In addition, taking the common market into account would more than capture the contribution of the integration process to economic growth and would be a prospect for future research.