EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF NATURAL GAS IMPORTS ON IRAQ'S ECONOMIC GROWTH

Abstract

Investigating the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth has been one of the main issues in the field of energy economics; One of the most important and cheapest sources of energy among fossil fuels is natural gas. Natural gas can be a source of energy and vital raw materials for industries, and understanding its economic effects can help countries to use opportunities to expand and modernize key sectors and promote diversification and economic development; It is also necessary to study the effect of natural gas import on economic development and growth that is aligned with the economic, social and environmental goals of countries. Considering the importance of this issue, the main goal of this study was to investigate the effect of natural gas imports on Iraq's economic growth during the period from 1990 to 2022 with the auto-explanatory vector model with extended intervals (ARDL). The findings of this study showed that the import of natural gas had a positive and significant effect on Iraq's economic growth in the long term. According to other results of this study, foreign trade, human capital, capital formation and foreign investment have also had positive and significant effects on Iraq's economic growth.