List of Countries that have adopted IFRS in Africa and Year the Country Publicly Announced the Adoption

This is a recently computed database of IFRS adoption rate in Africa and the years the public announcement was made. Apparently, the year the country begins the adoption of IFRS is the year the public announcement was made

MORE TRADE, MORE PROTECTION: INSIGHTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE UNENDING CONTRADICTION

Despite the stance of the WTO and various RTAs, elements of trade protectionism remain prevalent. This could be understood by the divergence between countries’ national interests and international trade protocols, which was reverberated during the recent global financial crises. However, the contradiction has taken new turn following new protectionist instruments. Furthermore, the implication of these instruments on developing countries economy is prevalent. Thus, this study explores the likelihood to engage in trade protection and the implication on developing country, focussing on Africa. The study observes that in the first quarter of 2012 alone, the number of protective measures amounts to 67, with bail out and trade defence accounting for as much as 74%. Similarly, from 2009 to 2011, trade defence mechanisms and bailout accounted for 25% of the protective measures; while tariff and non-tariff are also frequently used, jointly constituting about 28.11%. The study reveals that a country’s level of economic development is not a fundamental determining factor with regards to its tendency to engage in trade protectionism. However, the study establishes among others that as a country’s institutional quality improves, the less the tendency of being involved in protectionism. Paradoxically, the more a country’s trade integration, the higher its tendency towards protectionism, which might be alluded to the fact that when a country trades more, it has more interest to protect as major complainants of trade cases are also major traders. The study reveals that a country’s per capita income growth was significantly and adversely affected by the contemporary protectionism. It impacts negatively on trade balance; however, such impact was essentially significant for African countries

Technology Diffusion and Economic Progress in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

Application of appropriate technology has been noted as one of the distinguishing factors in growth disparities across countries. Thus, this study investigates the role of technological diffusion in economic progress in Africa. This was achieved using descriptive and empirical analyses based on imitator-innovator theoretical framework. The study established that the sub-regions in Africa with higher values in technological diffusion indicators experienced higher economic progress, which is a good indication of a significant positive relationship between economic progress and technological diffusion. Thus, the study concludes that if Africa must make contribution to the global knowledge economy and move on the path of economic progress, the issue of technological diffusion through adequate investment on R&D, functional education, among others, needs to be addressed with all serious efforts

Promotion of Non-Oil Export in Nigeria: Empirical Assessment of Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund

The Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) was established in 1977 with the aim of enhancing commercial banks' loans to the agricultural sector in Nigeria with focus on agro-allied and agricultural production. Many years down the line, the country has witnessed poor participation in the international market with regards to non-oil export. The above stance was assessed with a view to establishing interaction between ACGSF and non- oil export using the Vector Auto-regressive (VAR) technique. The study found, among ..

Trade Outcomes in Africa’s Regional Economic Communities and Institutional Quality: Some Policy Prescriptions

The global economic crisis of 2007/2008 that threatened the economic/financial fabrics of most countries has brought again the essence of strong institutional quality to the fore. This is particularly interesting as it impacted on trade outcomes in many countries including those in Africa. For instance, merchandize exports as a percentage of GDP for SSA reduced by 17.9% in 2007. Thus, this paper examines the effectiveness of RECs in Africa with respect to trade outcomes using some indicators, which was achieved using data from African Development Indicators, inter alia (1996-2008). Analyzing the data with descriptive and statistical techniques established, among others, that the respective indicators of trade outcomes, institutional quality were rather low and differed markedly across RECs in Africa. The study recommends that improvement of institutional quality in tandem with enhanced infrastructural facilities will play crucial roles in promoting trade outcomes in Africa’s RECs

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARD, TRADE AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN SUB-SAHARA AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Since the promulgation of IFRS as a result of the metamorphosis of the International Accounting Standard Board from the International Accounting Standard Committee in 2001, improved global capital flow and trade were identified as some of the outcomes from using IFRS for global financial reporting practice. Due to the fact that IFRS includes more realistic measure of accounting numbers and promotes better disclosure of accounting transactions, it is adjudged as a better form of financial reporting practice. Thus it reduces information asymmetry between preparers and users of financial information and promotes better disclosure and lowers cost of monitoring of subsidiaries and information barriers to cross border investments and trade. The rising global campaign for developing countries, including those in Africa, to adopt IFRS, still requires further examination as to its impact. More so, Africa is confronted by poor institutional framework and accounting infrastructure, and based on this, the consequent effect of IFRS adoption on trade and investment require empirical clarification. In essence, three important questions were asked: (i) to what extent has IFRS adoption enhanced trade flow of selected African countries? (ii) How has IFRS adoption impacted on the volume of FDI inflow to selected African countries? (iii) to what extent has the development of the accounting infrastructure in the selected African countries’ affected the influence of the adoption of IFRS on trade and FDI inflow. In answering the research questions, a panel data, consisting of 48 African countries were gathered and for the period 2002 – 2014. The econometric model were sourced from different database including the World Bank’s World Development Indicator, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Statistics and the Price Water House Coopers data on the extent of IFRS adoption around the world. The data were estimated using three approaches: the Ordinary Least Square regression, the Random Effect approach and the system GMM. The three estimation methods are deemed important considering their merits and weaknesses; thus, a multiplicity of methods will help for sensitivity checks. The key results from the study include that African countries will benefit more from IFRS by improving their institutional framework and more so through the development of accounting infrastructure

Global Economic crisis and Trade outcomes in OIC: The case of African members

Global economic crisis, which is characterised by price fluctuations across the world, has generated several debates. The crisis is threatening the economic and financial fabrics of most countries with varying degrees of effects due to differences in country’s structural framework. This may have some implications on trade outcomes. For instance, merchandise exports as a percentage of GDP for SSA reduced by 17.9% between 1995 and 2007. Thus, this paper investigates the effects of global economic crisis on trade outcomes using some indicators, namely: trade share in world market, trade per capita, and real growth in trade in selected OIC Members in Africa. This was achieved by employing data sourced from World Trade Indicators and World Development Indicators, which were analysed with descriptive analysis and econometric techniques based panel data framework for the period 1995-2008. It was established, among others, that trade outcomes of OIC Members in Africa are adversely and significantly influenced by global economic crisis. The results, inter alia, call for inward-looking alternatives such as pursuance of investment friendly ambience in enhancing their trade outcomes

Women Behaviour Towards Microfinance Scheme: An Exploratory Study

There has been a crippling trend in female involvement in business and some of the major challenges. This is traceable to weak and insufficient capital available to them for start up. These have been a major issue in the social sciences in developing strategies that would enhance easy accessibility of women to capital. This paper aimed at examining feminine interest and behaviour in taking advantage of microfinance scheme available to them to run their business. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain the primary data using Lagos metropolis as a case study. Regression analysis was carried out to measure the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable. The findings revealed that women are too keen in using microfinance as an alternative to formal financial institutions' credit. Based on this, we therefore recommend that the government should create more awareness among women as regards to the need to utilize micro finance as the best financing means for their business development

School innovation for continuous learning in the period of a health shock and pupils’ mental wellbeing in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia

This study focuses on the psychological consequences of school innovation for ongoing learning during the COVID-19 lockdown, which includes teaching strategies that use both online and offline (e.g. telephone-based instruction) teaching methods. Based on survey data obtained from Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, as collected by UNESCO/IEA, it is evident that the existence of learning innovation in schools is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of children reporting poor mental health and experiencing negative emotions. The results indicate that the gender of teachers and students, and the location of the schools, play a significant role in influencing the outcomes