Financial deregulation, trade and co-movements among the GDP growth rates: Evidence from South Asian countries

Since the 1980s, South Asian countries have been implementing financial market deregulation policies continuously. Although the process of deregulations has been slow, many countries in the region are heading toward a more integrated market despite current global turmoil. Financial market integration in South Asia could have synchronised economic activities of the countries in the region due to the impact of consolidation. This suggests that when the region's economies grow/contract, all countries could follow the same path or co-movement of growth rates is possible. When economic growth rates are similar for a region, it may be easier to formulate economic policies to achieve a common goal. As the political leadership of South Asia has agreed to work towards forming an economic block similar to that of the European Union and ASIAN, examining co-movement of growth rates could shed more lights on the issue of the success of market integration in the region. The objective of this study is to study market integration by analysing financial markets, trade and economic growth data to spot whether there is any co-movement of growth rates among South Asian countries due to financial market deregulation policies implemented so far. Findings show mix results.