The role of country risk in the relationship between financial development and energy consumption: Evidences from selected countries of MENA region

Energy, as one of the most important production factors and also one of the most essential final products, has a special place in the economic growth and development of countries. Financial development is also known as one of the factors affecting economic growth, which can affect energy consumption in different ways. In this research, using composite data and the PVAR (vector autoregression) method, to examine the role of country risk in the relationship between financial development and energy consumption in selected countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Malta, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Oman) for the time period 2000-2020. The results indicate the positive effect of financial development variable, consumer price index and risk on the variable of energy consumption per capita. Financial development has been able to have a positive effect on the energy consumption process by providing