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This study aimed to analyze the impact of external debt on economic growth with mediating role of institutional quality by employing a heterogeneous panel Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model through a pooled mean group (PMG) estimator over periods of 22 years spanning from 1998 to 2019 in East African countries. The finding reveals a significant long-term positive relationship between the stock of external debt as a percentage of GNI and economic growth. However, its square revealed a significant long-term negative relationship, suggesting a non-linear relationship. The positive effect of external debt on economic growth is limited to a threshold level of 62.9%. According to the error term's coefficient, the rate at which short-run returns to long-run equilibrium became disequilibrium in the current year was 45.5%. Furthermore, the result shows that institutional quality's indirect effect on external debt interaction had a significant positive impact on economic growth, indicating that the negative impact of external debt on economic growth decreased as the region's institutional quality rose. Therefore, a comprehensive improvement in institutional quality is required to both lessen the negative effects of external debt and maximize the benefits of government borrowing. In order to stabilize the external debt, governments should cut back on wasteful spending and uphold sound fiscal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous improvement of the business environment is important for countries seeking to benefit from increased trade and investment through regional integration. Creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and expand has become a new concept in international development organizations, and a good business climate allows good ideas to take root, which leads to the creation of jobs and better lives for host countries. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of business regulations on FDI inflow and economic growth in East Africa region using data collected from the World Bank spanning from 2010–2019. The study finds that dealing with construction, enforcing contracts, getting credit, getting electricity, paying tax and protecting minority investors have a significant impact on FDI inflow in the region. While enforcing contracts, getting credit, protecting minority investors, resolving insolvency, starting a business and trade across borders have a significant impact on economic growth in the region. Moreover, each additional reform during 2010–2019 is associated, on average, with a 3.09% increase in FDI inflows and 2.24% increase in GDP in East African countries. The findings of this study will help policy makers in the region to establish a strong legal framework of business regulations to attract FDI inflow into their economies, to adjust their ease of doing business procedures to attract FDI to their economies and to promote regional economic growth. This will also assist investors in monitoring these key indicators to facilitate investment decisions in foreign countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]