Foreign Direct Investment Flows and IMF Lending Programs. New Empirical Evidence from CESEE Countries

Abstract

The aim of the paper it to assess the “catalytic effect” of IMF lending programs on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European (CESEE) countries during and after the latest global financial crisis. This paper provides new empirical evidence on this catalytic effect while controlling for banking stability. Our results show that IMF lending programs had a negative catalytic effect on FDI flows to emerging economies from CESEE over the period 1999-2013. Other key determinants of FDI flows to these countries are inflation, current account balance, level of education, and infrastructure.

Keywords

• IMF
• catalytic effect
• FDI flows
• financial crisis
• Central
• Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
• F33
• F34
• G01