Özet:

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effects of renewable energy consumption and energy imports on the current account balance in 11 leading energy importing countries. Design/Methodology: In the study covering the period of 1995-2015, firstly, cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity tests were applied. Then, the stationarity test of the variables was examined by the CADF and CIPS unit root tests and the long-term relationship between the variables was examined by the Westerlund (2007) ECM cointegration test. In addition, the long-term elasticity coefficients were estimated by the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) method. Finally, the causality relationship was investigated with the Dumitrescu-Hurlin test. Findings: According to the results of the analysis, the effect of renewable energy consumption on the current account balance is positive. It has been found that energy imports affect the current account balance negatively. Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality results showed that there is a bidirectional causality relationship between renewable energy consumption and energy imports and current account balance. Limitations: The study is limited to the most energy importing countries and the period of 1995 to 2015. Originality/Value: The number of studies investigating the effect of energy imports and renewable energy consumption on the current account deficit is limited in the literature. Therefore, this study is important in terms of filling this gap in the current literature. In addition, examining this effect for countries with high dependence on energy imports show the originality of the study.

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