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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of portfolio equity flows to the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region over the period 1996-2010.

The study uses a sample of 14 SSA countries to estimate the baseline regression through employing the system generalized methods of moment dynamic panel estimation framework. To check the robustness of the estimation results, the study further analyses the data set using the random effects-generalized least squares (EGLS) estimator. The Random effects-generalized least squares estimator is also referred to a the Estimated Generalized least Squares (EGLS) estimator.

The paper finds a significant positive relationship between financial development and portfolio equity flows. Furthermore, while the study surprisingly finds trade openness to have a significant negative relationship, political stability is found to have a significant positive relationship with portfolio equity. To check for the robustness of these results, the authors further analyse the data set using the random EGLS estimator. The result of the EGLS estimator confirms that there is a robust positive relationship between financial development and portfolio equity flows to SSA. However, the results suggest that neither trade openness nor political stability is a robust determinant of portfolio equity flows to the sub-region.

Policy measures should aim at enhancing financial sector development, political stability and rule of law. A transparent judicial system that enhances rule of law and deepens democratic governance in countries in the sub-region is critical, but even more critical is deepening the financial sector, given the important role financial development plays in portfolio equity flows as suggested by the findings. A range of measures and appropriate policy responses are therefore needed for countries that have to manage macroeconomic and financial stability risks to deepen the financial sector.

Most studies on private capital flows to SSA have focussed on foreign direct investment flows with no or scanty evidence on the drivers of portfolio equity flows. This study fills this gap in the literature.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to estimate an optimal inflation rate for Ghana and second, to investigate factors that account for the differences between observed and target inflation.

The paper explored the questions within two econometric frameworks, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and Threshold Regression Models using data spanning the period 1965–2019.

The study estimated a range of 5–7% optimal inflation for Ghana. While this confirms the single-digit inflation targeting by the Bank of Ghana, the range is lower than the central bank's band of 6–10%. The combined behaviours of the central bank, banks and external outlook influence inflation target misses.

The study urges the central bank to continue pursuing its single-digit inflation targeting. However, it implies that there is still room for the Bank to further lower the current inflation band to achieve an optimal outcome on growth and welfare. Again, the Bank should commit to increased transparency and accountability to enhance its credibility in attaining the targeted inflation.

The study is one of the first attempts in Africa in Ghana to estimate an optimal inflation target and investigate the underlying factors for deviation from the targets.

This study analyzes the dynamic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumption among Ghanaian households, by identifying the existing consumption inequalities in the households according to the different age categories of the household head and changes in consumption patterns among the household constituents. In particular, the study examines the effects of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on household consumption and the differing impact on the different age categories of the household.

The research methodology of the study is based on the input–output analysis of the Ghanaian economy during the years 2015 and 2021 by using data on household consumption disaggregated by age. Economic impact is estimated through multi-sector modeling, specifically a demand model expressed based on a money metric measure valued in Ghanaian cedis. This model allows us to obtain the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the manufacturing sector, professional, scientific and technical activities, Water supply, sewerage, and waste management within Ghanaian households. The model also observed a negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public sector works and defense, and SSNIT sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

The findings of the study revealed that for the category of age group between the ages of 15–29 years, the consumption of manufacturing products experienced an increase of 6.20% whiles that of electricity consumption, air conditioning and heating reduced by 2.26% for the period under consideration. However, public sector works and defense, and SSNIT experienced a decline by 8.24%. For the age group between 30 and 45 years, the highest and most positive percentage change in household consumption was noted to be professional, scientific and technical activities (6.20%), Water supply, sewerage, waste management (5.98%), as well as manufacturing (5.65%). However, there was a decline in the consumption level of education by Ghanaian households during the lockdown especially among people within the age group of 46–65 years. There was a decline of 6.11% for the administrative and support services and there was also a decline the services of defense and SSNIT service consumption by 2.10%. For the final age group of 66 years and above, there was an increase of 6.94% in the consumption of such essential utilities in Ghana between 2015 and 2021. The demand for education however showed a drastic reduction of 8.1% over the study period due to this category of age group with majority of them retiring from work.

The findings from this study will help in understanding the effects caused by the pandemic on household consumption and the differing impact on different age category of the household, especially on young households. This can potentially shape future policy by especially helping policymakers to device a more targeted social safety-net policies not only to speed-up recovery, but also to mitigate the negative impact of any future outbreak of a pandemic on household consumption and limit the age gaps in consumptions. However, the study does not consider the income levels of the different age groups. This becomes a limitation of the study and can be further explored in future studies.

This study measures the impact of a global health pandemic on the consumption of all households, with its accompanying impact of this variation. It can be noted that analyzing household consumption and quantifying the positive and negative impact on different age category of the household and the different sectors of the Ghanaian economy add to the limited knowledge of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the household level.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corruption and institutional governance indicators on capital flight in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Using a Portfolio Choice Framework, the study employs two different estimation techniques as Generalized Method of Moment and Fixed Effect Regression on panel data sets of 32 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2000-2012.

The variable of interest, corruption, retains its expected positive sign and statistically significant across all the estimations. The relationship remains very strong even when other equally important institutional variables such as regime durability, rule of law and independence of the executive are taken into account. This suggests that a higher perception of corruption among public authorities as in bribery, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, among others facilitates an increase in capital outflow from SSA. The findings further indicate that regime durability and rule of law are important institutional variables that also significantly influence capital flights in SSA.

The findings imply that institutional reforms should be encouraged if SSA is to win the war against corruption and by extension against capital flight. There should be a creation of democratic environment and good governance practices that foster stronger governance institutions, decline in corruption and better domestic investment climate to help reverse the high spate of capital flight in the region.

The main value of this paper is using the portfolio choice framework to analyze the relationship between capital flight and corruption in the Sub-Saharan African context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the use of the mobile money technology among students affects their spending behaviour.

The study reports interesting findings by using a random sample of 506 students from the University of Ghana and applying ordinary least squares regression technique.

The findings suggest that active use of mobile money services has significant influence on students spending behaviour. On a monthly basis, students who use mobile money spend on the average 20 Ghana Cedis more than their colleagues who do not use mobile money. Students who use both mobile money and ATMs jointly spend nearly 13 Ghana Cedis more than their counterparts who use either of them.

The implication of this finding is that mobile money technology which provides easy access to money can increase spending behaviour of students and reduce the tendency of savings. The authors therefore conclude that although technological growth should not be curtailed given the numerous benefits technology accrues to society, its use must be controlled, in particular, when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange so as to minimize the negative influences (such as indiscriminate spending).

This paper studies the post-adoption behavioural responses of mobile money users particularly among students in Africa which is rare in the literature.

The world's economies are on their knees following the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic over the past 8 months. Growing number of researches has been conducted on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on developed countries with little attention on developing countries, who are still grappling with the negative impact of the coronavirus. The rationale for this study is to assess the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on Ghana's economy and government response to the pandemic as well as policy options to revive the ailing economy.

This study explored the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus on Ghana's economy using a discourse analysis with data from various secondary sources to analyze the impact of the pandemic from the Ghanaian perspective.

The findings from the discourse analysis revealed that the coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted on the socio-economic situation of the citizens of Ghana. Whiles an estimated 42,000 people lost their jobs in the first two months of the pandemic in Ghana, tourist attraction sector of the country alone lost $171 million dollars in the past three months due to the partial lockdown and closure of tourism and hospitality centers in the country. The study revealed that Ghana's healthcare system has been overwhelmed by the number of increasing cases in the country to extent of making use of temporary structures as isolation and treatment centers of the pandemic. The study revealed that Ghana may convert these challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic into prospects and opportunities by investing massively in the health sector and creating support for the SMEs which creates massive employment for many Ghanaians.

This study focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 on Ghana's economy and how the pandemic has negatively affected the country. The study is an exploratory study that makes use of secondary data. However, conducting a study with primary data sources from specific communities or regions in the country may not produce the same results. The results from the primary level or community level may be different from the general results obtained from the study. In future it is expected that the study focuses specifically on the extent of the coronavirus pandemic on Ghana's fiscal deficit which seems to have ballooned in recent times.

The study is the first of its kind to extensively explore the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Ghanaian economy. The novelty of this paper is that it recognizes governments response to the pandemic and proposes three practical measures adopted to put the country's economy back on its feet through survive, revive and ensuring growth in all sectors of the economy.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of the central bank’s regulatory capital on commercial banks specific performance outcomes such as credit supply, interest rate spread (as a measure of efficiency) and non-performing loans (NPLs).

Using specific commercial bank-level panel data from 2002-2012, a system of equations was modeled that allows us to apply the system generalized methods of moment approach and estimate the equations, while controlling for specific bank level, industry and macroeconomic variables.

The study finds a positive relationship between a net minimum capital ratio and the net interest margin. Although this is in contrast with the study expectations, the result suggests that a high net minimum capital requirement would widen the spread between the lending and saving rates. The study further finds evidence to support the fact that high minimum capital requirement and excess capital above the minimum required drive credit growth in the banking sector of Ghana. However, high excess capital increases risk-taking activities of the banks, as excess capital is found to be associated with high NPL ratios.

Given the economic benefits and costs of sharply increasing bank regulatory capital, our results speak to the ongoing debates on the right level of capital, the effectiveness of the Bank of Ghana policy rate (PR) and the high lending rates that appear to respond only slowly to macroeconomic indicators such as the PR and the inflation rate. The finding also has practical implications for the adoption of the Basel III accord.

The empirical literature has not paid enough attention to the impact of regulatory capital on the three specific bank-level outcomes – NPLs, interest rate spread and the nature of interrelationships among these variables, particularly in the African context.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the ancient susu savings operation in Ghana and the behavioural intention or willingness of susu collectors and users to adopt a mobile money (MM) platform as part of their savings practices. More specifically, this study investigates factors that determine one’s intention to adopt the MM space as a savings channel, particularly in place of more traditional ways of saving among many people in West Africa.

Using field survey data from market traders and susu collectors in several local markets in Ghana, and applying Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and Technological Adoption Model (TAM) conceptual frameworks, this study has produced some interesting findings. A logistic regression model was used for the empirical analysis.

Generally, among the susu collectors, the author found perceived risk, education level, relative advantage and the age of the collector to be statistically significant in influencing the behavioural intention of MM adoption. With respect to susu users, the author found such factors as trialability, observability or awareness, compatibility or education attainment. The study also finds the influence of the physical presence of the susu collector to be statistically significant in influencing one’s behavioural intention to accept MM. This was found to be the primary reason motivating susu users to honour their savings commitment.

These findings have important implications for MM uptake and the modernization of the susu operations in Ghana. While MM uptake remains significantly low, these findings suggest that the way to increase uptake is to create more awareness, embark on financial literacy programmes, and reduce mistrust and perception of risk of the MM platform. There is also the need for a regulator as the MM operators and their activities are not regulated by rules such as the reserve requirement of banks, as in the case of commercial banks that guarantees the safety of the savings of clients.

Literature on MM is growing in recent times. However, evidence on adoption as a saving channel to replace the traditional saving system is scanty, particularly within the African context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of nature and a range of institutional sources of start-up finance on micro and small enterprises' (MSEs) productivity growth in Ghana.

Using a unique non-farm household enterprise survey data from Ghana, this paper estimated TFP or Solow residual as a proxy for MSEs' productivity growth as well as other for robustness checks.

After controlling for firm-level characteristics such as size, age, ownership type, etc. the study finds that debt finance was positively associated with productivity growth, while financing from donation or charity did not. Second, this paper found significant positive associations between a more formal financing source such as formal and semi-formal financing sources and MSE's productivity growth. This finding was robustly confirmed by manager's growth perception. Further, compared to internal finance, external financing sources were found to be positively associated with productivity growth – indicating complementarities among all external financing sources.

Further research will be needed to validate these results, particularly using enterprise ongoing finance or working capital rather than start-up capital.

The study contributes to the finance literature by studying the impact of nature and institutional financing sources on MSEs' productivity growth in the African context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of financing preference of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) whilst distinguishing a broader range of financing sources beyond what is typically the case within the corporate finance literature.

Under the framework of ordinal logistic regression, the paper also tests whether there is evidence of hierarchical preference ordering as predicted by pecking order theory (POH) using field survey data for 2009.

The authors relate that new enterprises are more likely to prefer low cost and less risky or less formal financing such as internal or bootstrap finances. However, as the enterprise gets established or matures, its capacity to seek formal financing increases, thereby becoming more likely to prefer or being in a higher category of formal financing. While the paper affirms the POH, it is argued that this order is a consequence of severe persistent constraints other than sheer preference. The findings further reveal that, microentrepreneur's and MSE's‐specific level socio‐economic characteristics such as owner's education or financial literacy status, households tangible assets, ownership structure, enterprise size, as well as sensitivity to high interest rates in the credit market, to be important determinants of either past (start‐up), present or future financing preference.

The main value of this paper is to analyse the determinants of financing preference of MSEs within the context of rural financial market (RFM) from a developing country perspective.