An Empirical Investigation on Determinants of Sustainable Economic Growth. Lessons from Central and Eastern European Countries

The study focuses on the effects of imports, exports, financial direct investment inflow and financial direct investment outflow on sustainable economic growth expressed by various macroeconomic indicators (gross domestic product, gross domestic savings, gross domestic capital) using the least squares panel method. Sample data were selected for ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and the time frame considered was 2005-2016. Generally, transitional economies have to incorporate strong savings and a steady capital formation in order to achieve higher economic growth via foreign direct investment. Results showed that the analyzed factors played a major role in the sustainable economic growth of CEE countries. Another important and valuable insight of this study is that the financial sector steers the process of achieving sustainable economic growth across CEE countries.