The Decision to Go Public from an Emerging Market: The Ghanaian Case

This paper examines the decision to go public on the Ghana Stock Exchange using data on both private and public firms. Analysis of the determinants of going public decision reveals that firms size, cost of debt, leverage and investment opportunities are the likely determinants of initial public offerings (IPO) in Ghana. In terms of post IPO performance, we find that the sample firms recorded a decrease in the level of investment opportunities, leverage as well as a reduction in cost of debt. This suggests that firms in Ghana go public to reduce their level of debt and not to fund investment opportunities. Key words: IPO, stock market, the going public decision, Ghana.

Risk Management Practices among Commercial Banks in Ghana

The study compares the risk management practices among commercial banks in Ghana.  Using the multiple regression model the paper examines the determinants of risk management practices among the selected commercial banks. Cross-sectional research design was used. A standard modified questionnaire from (Hussien and Faris, 2007), were administered to risk analysts and senior risk managers of the sampled banks at the headquarters offices and branch head offices in Accra and Kumasi. The results show that the sampled banks are somewhat efficient in managing risk, and risk monitoring and control is the most influencing variable in risk management practices. The results again show a significant difference among commercial banks in the practice of risk identification, understanding risk and in risk monitoring and control except risk assessment and analysis. Keywords: risk, management, commercial banks, Ghana

Determinants of Abnormal Returns on the Ghana Stock Exchange

This study examines the determinants of market’s reaction to dividend initiation announcements in Ghana. In particular, it considered the magnitude of abnormal returns during the days that surround announcements of dividend initiation. This study expects to reveal the factors that determine abnormal returns on the Ghana Stock Exchange. This is accomplished by measuring the abnormal returns before, during and after dividend initiation announcements. Using an event study approach, factors such us: the firm’s earning changes, earning volatility, dividend yield, firm’s age, institutional shareholding, firm’s size, market-to-book ratio, investment opportunities available to the firm and the industry of the firm are analyzed to ascertain if the abnormal return is dependent on them. The results suggest that older firm and firms in the manufacturing industry experience stronger and positive investors’ reaction than younger firms and firms in the other industries. The results also revealed that investors react negatively to firms that have viable investment opportunities but decide to initiate dividend payment. Keywords: Determinants, dividend initiation, abnormal returns, GS

What perceived practices of teachers contribute to students’ mathematics learning and achievement at the SHS level? A Case study in the Central region of Ghana

This study examines the importance of Senior High School level mathematics to the development of a country. It would not be enough for a country to just believe that mathematics is important until a substantial amount of the subject content have been successfully imparted into a country’s schooling citizens. This has made students’ mathematics achievement an issue of concern to many countries of today including Ghana. These concerns have necessitated this research to investigate what should be done by educational institutions to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics. Various outcomes and contributions made in the past regarding teachers endeavors have been provided to students to learn and achieve in mathematics have been reviewed in this study to inform readers of what have existed already. While some reviewed works criticized methods used in teaching mathematics and also condemned shorter instructional periods for the teaching and learning of mathematics, others made suggestions and recommendations that would help improve achievement in the subject. This work employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. The analysis revealed that majority of SHS mathematics teachers perceives the following professional activities to be influential to SHS students’ mathematics development: Assigning mathematics homework and reviewing the given homework, encouraging learners to work in groups, engaging the whole class in discussion, using additional mathematics textbooks as instructional tools, taking students' prior understanding into account when planning a lesson and motivating student to practice mathematics on their ow

Harnessing the synergies of independent central banks and human capital for enhanced financial sector development in Africa

Using panel data from 2004 to 2012, we employ a two-step system GMM estimation technique, with robust standard errors, collapsed instruments and illus-trate marginal effects of central bank independence on financial development in Africa. We also examine the moderating roles of human capital, proxied by literacy rates on the CBI-financial development nexus. We find that, in countries with higher literacy rates/human capital, the positive impact of dejure CBI on financial development is enhanced. Higher literacy rates however, worsen the negative impact of de facto CBO on financial devel-opment. Independent central banks can be made more effective in achieving financial development through governments improving literacy rates. The study is the first to empirically examine the impact of central bank independence on financial development using both dejure and de facto CBI measures and literacy rates in explaining this relationshi

The push for financial inclusion in Africa:Should central banks be wary of political institutional quality and literacy rates?

Motivated by the literature on reform complementarities and their importance for the effectiveness of central bank independence (CBI) reforms—particularly for African countries—where CBI has empirically not been found to have a significant impact on financial development, we explore the extent to which differences in literacy levels and political institutions could determine the extent and impact of CBI on financial inclusion. Using panel data from 2004 to 2014, we find that, while CBI does not promote financial inclusion in Africa, financial literacy and political institutions do; even to the extent of enabling CBI's impact on financial inclusion. The results are robust to different measures of political institutions from Freedom House and Polity IV Database and present implications for the role governments could play in shepherding central banks in Africa in the midst of Africa's developmental challenges and the global crises

Structural transformation in the presence of trade and financial integration in sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines the impact of trade and financial integration on structural transformation relying on data from 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the period 1985–2015. Results from our system generalized method of moments (GMM) show that, trade and financial integration significantly spur manufacturing and agricultural sector value additions. However, for the industrial sector, only financial integration robustly influences industrial growth with no effect on the service sector. Further evidence also suggests that trade and financial integration are complementary to each other and do not operate independently to influence structural transformation in SSA

On the determinants of trade openness in low- and lower-middle-income countries in Africa: How important is economic growth?

The existing literature highlights the determinants of trade openness with disregard to the income classifications of countries in examining whether the determinants differ given their income levels. This study, therefore, re-examines the drivers of trade openness in Africa relying on panel data with special focus on the role of economic growth. More specifically, we perform a comparative analysis of the factors influencing trade openness for low-income and lower-middle-income countries using the system generalized method of moments. Our findings suggest that, while economic growth robustly enhances openness in low-income countries, in the case of lower-middle-income countries, the impact is not robust and largely negative suggesting that higher growth is associated with less openness. We also find that, economic growth-openness nexus for the lower-income countries exhibits non-linearities and inverted U-shaped relationship in particular. Thus, while increases in real GDP per capita enhance openness, beyond an estimated threshold point, any increases in economic growth dampen openness. We discuss key implications for policy

Determinants of working capital requirement in listed firms: Empirical evidence using a dynamic system GMM

Working capital management is a critical element in the survival of every firm. While the effective management of working capital leads to value creation in firms, ineffective management of working capital, on the other hand, does not only destroy value but can lead to the eventual solvency of the firm. The search for the factors that influence working capital management has, therefore, become a worthwhile exercise embarked upon by both managers and scholars. The main aim of this study is thus to empirically investigate the determinants of working capital requirement on the listed firms in Ghana. In examining the determinants of working capital requirements, 28 firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange were used for a time period of 8 years, spanning from 2007 to 2014. The study employed a dynamic panel system of General Methods of Moments (GMM) to test the hypotheses. This estimator has the ability to produce consistent and unbiased results when even there is an endogeneity in the model. This, therefore, makes our results more efficient and reliable. First, the study suggests that working capital in Ghanaian firms is determined by profitability, age, sales growth, GDP growth, operating cycles and leverage. Second, it is realized that while age, profitability and operating cycle strongly impacts positively on working capital, GDP growth, sales growth and leverage inversely correlate with working capital

Frequency-domain approach to the causal nexus between domestic and international economic policy uncertainties and equity returns of G20 countries

While uncertainty shocks affect equity markets at various investment horizons, knowledge about the causal effects of uncertainty and equity markets in the frequency domain is scant among the Group of Twenty (G20) countries regarded as systemically important economies. This paper explores the causal relations between domestic and international (US) economic policy uncertainties (EPU) and equity market returns of G20 countries. By employing the frequency-domain causality test, with monthly data spanning January 1997 to June 2021, we reach the following conclusions: 1) irrespective of the frequency, there is more support for the equity-leading hypothesis, implying that domestic stock market volatility contributes to increasing domestic policy uncertainty, as policymakers occasionally have to alter policies in reaction to elevated stock market volatility; 2) the causality between policy uncertainty (whether domestic or international) and equity returns is sensitive to heterogeneous investment decisions and policy uncertainty across horizons in most of our sample; 3) International (US) policy uncertainty has a domineering causal effect in predicting domestic equity returns, relative to domestic policy uncertainty in the short run of about 2.5 months or less. Therefore, the prediction that stock prices fall following government policy announcements is not always supported since countries are different