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    Assessing Project Management Maturity in Africa: A Ghanaian Perspective
    (International Journal of Business Administration, 2013) Ofori, D.; Deffor, E.W.
    The level of project management awareness and recognition of the standards and knowledge sharing among professionals is on the rise. Despite this many projects continue to fail. Ameliorating project failure requires project management maturity among practitioners. Project management maturity is the progressive development of an enterprise-wide project management approach, methodology, strategy, and decision-making process. To ascertain the level of maturity among project-oriented organizations in Ghana the following research questions were raised: Is the concept of PM maturity understood in Ghana? What are Project Management Maturity levels in Ghana? What maturity models are in use? Are there differences in project management maturity levels in industries in Ghana? The study was exploratory and utilized a questionnaire survey method to collect data on project management Maturity in Ghanaian organizations. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 200 managers from different economic sectors. The findings showed that differences exist in the current project management maturity levels across each phase of the project life cycle for all organizations. The study also showed that most of the practitioners expect their respective organizations to attain higher levels of project management maturity (PMM) albeit at various levels. Organizations operating in the non-profit (NGO) category exhibited relatively higher levels of maturity compared to the other categories of organizations in all five phases of the project management life cycle. Firms in the public sector of Ghana recorded low levels of maturity in most of the phases of the project management life cycle. This may be attributed to the low level of project management expertise in the sector, with possible dire consequence to the country’s development since the public sector accounts for a large percentage of projects executed in Ghana. Overall, the findings seem to indicate that project management maturity occurs in phases; PM maturity does not occur as an event but is an ongoing process that is interlinked. The implication therefore is that organisations cannot claim to be mature in one area and neglect the other; it becomes imperative for project-implementing organizations in Ghana to strive to attain maturity in all five phases of the project management life cycle to attain the full benefits of the projects they implement.
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    Policy Responses to fight COVID-19; the case of Ghana
    (Brazilian Journal Of Public Administration, 2020) Antwi-Boasiako, J.; Abbey, C.O.A.; Ofori, R.A.; Ogbey, P.
    This paper focuses on the policy responses of Ghana’s government with a focus on three areas: health, economic, and social. Ghana has made several policy interventions in these three areas. The study highlighted the adoption of the 3T approach in health, CAP-20 in economics, and free water and subsidized electricity for citizens as social interventions. The study concludes that the measures undertaken by the Government of Ghana have yielded significant results even though some challenges with delivery mechanisms are identified. The available statistics as of October 25, 2020, on the COVID-19 situation in Ghana further affirm the gains.
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    Institutional quality and social cost of intermediation in Africa: Does the level of financial market development matter?
    (International Journal of Finance & Economics, 2021) Karikari, N.K.; Kusi, B.A.; Gyan, K.K.; Khan, M.A.H.
    This article examines the effect of institutional quality on social cost of intermediation in high and low-developed financial markets across 29 African countries between 2006 and 2013. Employing bootstrap-quantile and two-step system generalized methods of moments models with bank-level data of about 330 banks, the results provide interesting and new insights. The results show that improvement in institutional quality in high- or low-developed financial markets translates into reduced social cost of intermediation for society. However, it is evident from the results that improvement in institutional quality is more robust, persistent and weightier in reducing the social cost of intermediation in low-developed financial markets, which are often characterized by with weak regulatory regimes and enforcement. Hence, improvement in institutional quality shores up regulatory supervision, monitoring and enforcement which translates into heavier dampening of social cost of financial intervention in less developed financial markets. Moreover, bank size, credit shocks, return on equity and liquidity are key drivers of social cost of intermediation both in low- and high-developed financial markets. These findings have policy implications and recommendations for policymakers and regulators of financial institutions. Policymakers and regulators, especially those in less developed financial markets, must endeavour to create, implement and advanced mechanisms and enabling environment that enhances the quality of institutions since improved institutional quality reduces social cost of interaction to the benefit of society
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    The distributional effects of fiscal and monetary policies in Africa
    (Journal of Social and Economic Development, 2022) Kunawotor, M.E.; Bokpin, G.A.; Asuming, P.O.; Amoateng, K.A.
    Income inequality has been persistent and indeed high in Africa over decades. Accordingly, a lot of empirical drivers have been identified to address it, albeit to a large extent of fiscal and monetary policies in Africa. This paper provides empirical evidence on the distributional effects of both fiscal and monetary policies in Africa over the period 1990– 2017. We employ a two-step dynamic system, GMM, a simultaneous quantile regression, and also use variants of fscal and monetary indicators, including fscal redistribution. Our results show that fscal redistribution has been quite effective in Africa, as refected in the role played by income taxes and transfers in reducing Gini coefficients, albeit to a relatively little extent. In particular, we find that direct tax is progressive and a potent tool in redistributing income in favour of the have-nots. Indirect tax, unsurprisingly, is regressive and income unequalizing. Similarly, we find property taxes to have income-unequalizing effects in Africa. The results of the expenditure indicators reveal that government spending on basic and primary education narrows net income inequality, while government spending on secondary and tertiary education rather widens net income inequality. Lastly, we find that contractionary monetary policy has unintended distributional effects in Africa. We suggest that governments should broaden the tax net, increase the share of direct tax, and property tax and spend more on basic education to improve income distribution in Africa
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    What drives bank lending? A closer look at bank lending types in Africa
    (African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 2022) Ayagre, P.; Kusi, B.; Dzeha, G.; Kriese, M.
    Purpose: In this study, the authors present unique evidence on bank lending types by paying particular attention to the factors that drive the different types of bank lending in Africa using bank-level data. Design/methodology/approach – In presenting such evidence, the study employs a robust fixed effect panel data with year and technological controls comprising 57 banks from 29 African economies between 2006 and and 2015. Findings: The results show that different factors affect different bank lending types differently in Africa. Specifically, while the authors find that total or aggregate bank lending is positively driven by bank capitalization and spread but negatively driven by bank size, corporate and commercial bank lending is positively driven by bank size, spread, inflation, elections and extent of business disclosure but negatively driven by bank capitalization, loan loss reserves, operational costs, and gross domestic product per capita. Moreover, interbank lending is both negatively and positively driven by bank capitalization and size respectively, while other bank lending type are driven positively by financial crises but negatively by bank size, inflation and extent of business disclosure. Finally, retail and consumer lending are positively driven by bank capitalization, loan loss reserves, and spread. while negatively driven by bank size and inflation. Practical implications: These imply that bank managers, regulators, policymakers and researchers must begin to see each bank lending category separately and independently since varying factors influence the different categories of bank lending differently. Originality/value: The study presents new insights into how different factors determine different lending types in Africa for the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge.
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    The Implications Of Climate Change And Extreme Weather Events For Fiscal Balance And Fiscal Policy In Africa
    (Journal of Social and Economic Development, 2022) Kunawotor, M.E.; Bokpin, G.A.; Asuming, P.O.; Amoateng, K.A.
    African countries quite often experience weather-related events as a result of climate variability. In this study, we investigate the effects of climate change and the incidence of extreme weather events on fscal balance and the broad implications for fscal policy formulation in Africa. We employ the system GMM, fixed-efects and random-efects estimation strategies over the period 1990–2017. We find that increases in temperature change anomaly which implies a warmer climate in a meteorological year worsens fscal balance in Africa. Our fndings also reveal that weather-related events may have a signifcant impact on fscal balance, if the damage caused is large and consequential. Furthermore, African countries with relatively strong institutions and adaptive capacities tend to modulate the impact of temperature change anomaly and extreme weather events on fscal balance. We forecast that the frequent incidence of climatic disruptions and extreme weather events which are considered as external shocks may toughen the fscal consolidation eforts and debt sustainability measures of some African governments.
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    Responding to the commodity boom with varieties of resource nationalism: a political economy explanation for the different routes taken by Africa's new oil producers
    (The Extractive Industries and Society, 2020) Hickey, S.; Abdulai, A-G.; Izama, A.; Mohan, G.
    The institutional responses of Africa's new producers to the early 21st century commodity boom differed both between and within countries over time. Despite making similarly sized discoveries in the mid-2000s, Ghana and Uganda took different routes, with Ghana oscillating between a neoliberal modality and a soft version of re source nationalism (depending on which party was in power), whilst Uganda adopted a more consistent and robust resource nationalist position. Current explanations for varieties of resource governance tend to focus on either institutions or ideas. We argue for an alternative theoretical perspective that locates the entwined role of both institutions and ideas within a deeper analysis of a country's ‘political settlement’. This offers a more compelling explanation for the varied responses to the commodity boom in sub-Saharan Africa, and suggests that different types of political settlements have had significant implications for how oil governance has progressed in different contexts.
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    Connectedness Across Commodities, Stocks, Exchange Rates And Bonds Markets In Africa: The Covid-19 Pandemic Case
    (International Journal of Emerging Markets, 2023) Boakye, R.O.; Mensah, L.; Osei, K.; et al.
    Purpose: The study measures the total systemic risks and connectedness across commodities, stocks, exchange rates and bond markets in Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic. Design, methodology, and approach: The study uses Diebold-Yilmaz spillover and connectedness measures in a generalized VAR framework. The author calculates the net transmitters or receivers of shocks between two assets and visualizes their strength using a network analysis tool. Findings: The study found low systemic risks across all assets and countries. However, we found higher systemic risks in the forex market than in the stock and bond markets, and in South Africa than in other countries. The dynamic analysis found time-varying connectedness return shocks, which increased during the peak periods of the first and second waves of the pandemic. We found both gold and oil as net receivers of shocks. Overall, over half of all assets were net receivers, and others were net transmitters of return shocks. The network's connectedness plot shows high net pairwise connectedness from Morocco to South African stock market. Practical implications: The study has implications for policymakers to develop the capacities of local investors and markets to limit portfolio outflows during a crisis. Originality/value: Previous studies have analyzed spillovers across asset classes in a single country or a single asset across countries. This paper contributes to the literature on network connectedness across assets and countries.
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    Religiosity and financial development in Africa: evidence from panel quantile regression
    (Cogent Business & Management, 2024) Kwatia, B.O.; Amewu, G.; Armah, M.
    As secularism is increasing and religious diversity is regaining momentum worldwide, It is important to understand how systemic religious differences have influenced financial development in Africa. To this end, this study seeks to investigate the impact of religiosity on financial development in Africa by using freedom of religion to proxy religiosity and domestic credit to the private sector to proxy financial development covered from 2000 to 2020. The results from the panel quantile regression show that religiosity is negatively associated with the use of financial services across the quantile. whereas freedom of association, assembly, and civil society, and security and safety are marginally stronger within the lower, middle, and upper quantiles. The findings underscore that fundamental human rights exert significant influence on financial development in Africa. Our findings contribute to literature by expanding knowledge on the role of personal freedom on economic activities; hence, African governments and policymakers constitutionalize freedom as a fundamental human right, as freedom matters for financial development in Africa
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    Agricultural Export, Growth and the Poor in Africa: A Meta Analysis
    (Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 2022) Adeabah, D.; Asongu, S.
    Over the past decade, a growing number of studies have examined the role of agricultural export in economic growth in Africa. The literature, however, provides conflicting results about the agricultural export-led growth hypothesis. In this study, we aim to re-examine the impact of agricultural export on economic growth by performing a meta-analysis. There are two questions of interest, namely, (a) whether publication bias is present in the agricultural export-growth literature in Africa, and (b) if there is an overall effect of agricultural export on economic growth. Our meta-analysis finds significant negative publication bias in the literature. Moreover, after correction for publication bias, the results show that agricultural export leads to growth in low-income and lower middle-income African countries. These results are consistent with the agricultural export-led growth hypothesis. By this, we provide empirical basis that may enhance policy decisions on resource allocation to areas of comparative advantage. Additionally, the existence of an income differential effect on the agricultural export-led growth nexus implies that agricultural export-growth strategy has a pronounced effect on the poor in Africa. The result suggests that the poor in Africa could follow an agricultural growth strategy because it is a promising means to increase per capita wealth.