Abstract:
The study established the macroeconomic and non-macroeconomic determinants of capital flight in Kenya over the period 1998 to 2018. The study adopted positivistic philosophy and was guided by mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. A sample of 15 experts was selected using purposive sampling and snowball sampling from experts who had knowledge on capital fight. Quarterly time series data for calculation of capital flight and for Gross domestic product growth rate, external debt, budget deficit, exchange rate, inflation and foreign direct investments were collected from the Central Bank of Kenya and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Corruption perception index data was collected from Transparency International website while index of political stability data was collected from the World Bank. The data was analyzed using STATA 14. Four Autoregressive Distributed-lagged models were fitted. Regression coefficient for budget deficit in the long run was -0.07 and the p value was 0.072 indicating a negative and significant relationship at 10% level of significant. Regression coefficient for exchange rate in the long run was 0.03 and the p value was 0. 043 revealing a positive significant relationship at 5% level of significant. Regression coefficients for current quarters Foreign Direct investments and previous quarters Foreign Direct investments were 0.04 and -0.060 and the p values were 0.026 and 0.002 respectively reflecting a positive significant relationship at 5% level of significant and a negative significant relationship at 1% level of significant respectively. Regression coefficient for corruption perception index was 0.68 in the short run and the p value was 0.028 showing a positive significant relationship at 5% level of significant. The coefficient of lagged capital flight was 0.81 and a p value of 0.000 indicating a positive significant relationship. The regression results for inflation, Gross domestic product growth rate, external debt and political stability indicated that they had an insignificant relationship with capital flight. The study recommended that policies that would prevent further capital flight and generate capital flight reversal be implemented. All institutions charged with fighting corruption should intensify the fight against corruption. Scholars should compare the determinants in different countries and regions and focus in particular on cross-country analysis especially within the Sub – Saharan Africa