Financial inclusion; digital finance; financial intermediation; poverty reduction

The G20 made a commitment to adopt financial inclusion as a major support towards the achievement of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of all member countries. Specifically, the sustainable development goals of employment creation, hunger elimination and poverty reduction would be addressed when those in the informal sector are captured into mainstream finance. This study investigated how financial exclusion impairs inclusive drive of 27 sub Saharan African countries using secondary data sourced from World Bank database for 10 years (2007–2017). Granger Error Correction Method (ECM) with General Methods of Moments (GMM) of Arellanon and Bond (1991) were used to analyse the short panel data obtained from the World Bank database. The ECM test result found evidence of a long-run relationship, however, in the short-run, there is an insignificant but positive relationship between financial inclusion and exclusion with values recorded at 0.33, 0.37 and 0.32 for low, moderate and high financial stable countries, respectively. This implies that, there is no correlation between financial inclusion and financial exclusion (proxy by unemployment) in the three sets of countries sampled. However, for the moderately stable financial system, exclusion has negative long run multiplier impact on inclusion. The study therefore recommends policies that could sustain and improve employment rate in poorly and highly stable financial system

Corporate environmental reputation management and financial performance of environmentally sensitive companies in Nigeria

Business activities have direct and indirect effects on their immediate environment. The degree of impact a business venture would have on the environment depends on the nature of business. This work examines the impact of environmental reputation management on the financial performance of environmentally sensitive companies in Nigeria. This work includes an extensive review of relevant literature, hinging this research on stakeholder theory. Data were gathered from corporate annual reports and sustainability reports sourced on-line. The analytical research design was utilised in undertaking the study. A sample of 46 companies was selected from public limited liability companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange and operating in environmentally sensitive sectors. The corporate reports were analysed from 2008 to 2017 financial years. Linear Regression analysis was employed to test the hypothesis. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between corporate environmental reporting quality and financial performance; reputation risk management and financial performance of environmentally sensitive companies in Nigeria. The level of environmental reporting quality by environmentally sensitive companies in Nigeria causes 13.1% change in the financial performance of the reporting company. Corporate reputation risk management of environmentally sensitive companies in Nigeria causes 11.4% change in the company’s financial performance. It is hereby, recommended that environmentally sensitive companies should ensure high-quality environmental reputation management to achieve their profit maximisation aim. This high-level environmental management contributes to the achievement of the fifteenth sustainable development goal (life on land), set to attain sustainable management of forests, freshwater and ecosystem

Financial exclusion of bankable adults: implication on financial inclusive growth among twenty-seven SSA countries

The G20 made a commitment to adopt financial inclusion as a major support towards the achievement of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of all member countries. Specifically, the sustainable development goals of employment creation, hunger elimination and poverty reduction would be addressed when those in the informal sector are captured into mainstream finance. This study investigated how financial exclusion impairs inclusive drive of 27 sub Saharan African countries using secondary data sourced from World Bank database for 10 years (2007–2017). Granger Error Correction Method (ECM) with General Methods of Moments (GMM) of Arellanon and Bond (1991) were used to analyse the short panel data obtained from the World Bank database. The ECM test result found evidence of a long-run relationship, however, in the short-run, there is an insignificant but positive relationship between financial inclusion and exclusion with values recorded at 0.33, 0.37 and 0.32 for low, moderate and high financial stable countries, respectively. This implies that, there is no correlation between financial inclusion and financial exclusion (proxy by unemployment) in the three sets of countries sampled. However, for the moderately stable financial system, exclusion has negative long run multiplier impact on inclusion. The study therefore recommends policies that could sustain and improve employment rate in poorly and highly stable financial system

WTO must ban harmful fisheries subsidies

Sustainably managed wild fisheries support food and nutritional security, livelihoods, and cultures (1). Harmful fisheries subsidies—government payments that incentivize overcapacity and lead to overfishing—undermine these benefits yet are increasing globally (2). World Trade Organization (WTO) members have a unique opportunity at their ministerial meeting in November to reach an agreement that eliminates harmful subsidies (3). We—a group of scientists spanning 46 countries and 6 continents—urge the WTO to make this commitment..