A Panel Data Analysis on Determinants of Economic Growth in Seven Non-BCBS Countries

The phenomenon of economic growth indicates the increase in a country’s wealth during a certain period of time. Given the complexity of the phenomenon, there is a manifold of factors influencing its level. The study examined the determinants of economic growth in seven countries that are not members of the Basel Committee of Banking Supervision, namely Bolivia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Malaysia, Peru, Poland, and Thailand, for the decades 1990–2019. Our set of predictors included bank capital to assets ratio, bank liquid reserves to bank assets ratio, inflation, interest rate spread, bank nonperforming loans to total gross loans ratio. By means of panel data analysis and a random effects econometric model, we showed that economic growth proxied by gross domestic product growth rate was mainly driven by bank capital to assets ratio across the three decades. The implications of our empirical results could assist national authorities interested in elevating the level of economic growth for the benefit of the overall society.