The Impacts of Energy Consumption, Energy Prices and Energy Import-Dependency on Gross and Sectoral Value-Added in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Drifting away from the neoclassical growth conjecture of economic growth being solely dependent on capital and labor inputs, this paper aimed to evaluate the dynamic impacts of energy consumption, energy prices and imported energy-dependency on both gross and sectoral value-added figures of Sri Lanka. The analysis has particularly used the robust econometric methods that can account for structural break issues in the data. The results, in a nutshell, indicated that energy consumption homogeneously contributes to gross, agricultural, industrial and services value-additions in Sri Lanka. However, positive oil price shocks and greater shares of imported energy in the total energy consumption figures are found to dampen the growth figures, especially in the context of the gross, industrial and services value additions. Besides, the joint growth-inhibiting impacts of oil price movements and energy import-dependency are also ascertained. On the other hand, the causality estimates reveal bidirectional causal associations between energy consumption-gross value-added and energy consumption-industrial value-added. In contrast, no causal impact of energy consumption on the agricultural and services value-added is evidenced. Hence, these findings impose key policy implications for constructing crucial energy policy reforms to make sure that the economic growth performances of Sri Lanka are sustained in the future.