Achieving high and sustained economic growth is a significant policy goal for any economy, particularly in emerging economies. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate how economic integration affects sustainable economic development in East Africa countries. The study estimated the short- and long-run model coefficients employing the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) technique. The short-run ARDL model results show that real GDP, exports, and FDI inflows at their first lag periods and the current period exports significantly and positively impact regional sustainable economic growth, while imports and foreign debt negatively impact it. Moreover, the study demonstrated a significant and favorable long–run association between the import of merchandise goods from China as a proportion of total imports, while exports to China and foreign debt negatively impact regional economic growth. It is advised that the regional governments should prioritize the implementation of policies that prohibit further defaults, reduce reliance on external borrowing, promote exports, and provide incentives to attract investment—with a focus on the adoption of labor-intensive technologies
Корчагина Елена Викторовна (Thu,) studied this question.