Achieving sustainable development remains a major challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), despite periods of economic growth and increasing policy interventions across the region. While existing studies have examined the role of fiscal, monetary, and environmental policies independently, limited attention has been given to how these policy dimensions jointly relate to sustainable development and through which mechanisms their effects operate. Using annual panel data for five selected SSA economies from 2005 to 2020, this study examines the relationship between economic policy and sustainable development within a nonlinear and mechanism-based framework. The analysis employs hierarchical regression techniques to assess direct effects, mediation channels, and moderation dynamics. The findings indicate that fiscal and monetary policy exhibit diminishing effects on sustainable development, suggesting that the effectiveness of policy expansion may weaken as intervention intensifies. Environmental pressure, however, is positively associated with sustainable development outcomes. The results further show that access to credit partially mediates the relationship between monetary policy and sustainable development, while green technology serves as a transmission channel linking environmental pressures to sustainable development. In addition, trade openness moderates the relationship between fiscal policy and sustainable development. The findings suggest that policy effectiveness depends not only on the scale of intervention but also on financial access, technological adaptation, and external economic integration.
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