The ARDL model is able to capture the long-run relationship among the variables based on the F-statistics (bounds test), where the null hypothesis of level relationship is H0: π1 1⁄4 π2 1⁄4 π3 1⁄4 π4 1⁄4 0; against the alternative hypothesis, where the H1: π1 a π2 a - π3 a π4 a 0. We use the critical values table of Narayan [45] to identify the long-run behaviour of the variables, because the time frame of this study is quite small. As mentioned earlier, one of the main aims of this study is to identify structural breaks; therefore, we include a time trend series of structural break dates based on the ZA unit root test into the ARDL estimation framework to capture the structural break effects in the long-run relationship among the variables. In the second part of the ARDL framework, we explore the short-run relationship with the error correction