Cross-Border Funding and Microfinance Mission Drift: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
Akem Forkusam
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Mission Drift ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Ssa Countries

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become the top priority for international funders and they are now increasing their cross-border funding to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region. This foreign funding is considered an additional source of capital for MFIs in the region who are facing difficulties in meeting the demand of the poor. However, these funds are provided by public and private funders who each have different motives. The paper examines the impact of these different sources of funding on microfinance performance and mission drift in SSA, which is the world’s poorest region. The study utilizes data from 212 MFIs in 30 SSA countries accessed over a three-year period (i.e. 2007, 2009, and 2011). The findings show that cross-border funding does not affect either the social or financial performance of MFIs when time and country effects are accounted for.

Social, Political, and Environmental Impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 183-219
Author(s):  
Rhys Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Ssa Countries

Some of the most controversial aspects of China’s economic presence in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) relate to the social, political, and environmental impacts. Many of the claims that are made are based on anecdotal evidence, and there is a need for more systematic research on these aspects. In terms of social impacts, the chapter discusses employment, wages, working conditions, and labour rights. Political issues addressed include claims that China’s involvement supports authoritarian regimes, encourages corruption, and leads to conflict and political instability. These claims are not generally supported, and SSA countries have benefitted from the increased policy space that Chinese involvement gives them. The environmental effects of both increased exports to China and the activities of Chinese firms in SSA are analyzed. Contrasting case studies illustrate the negative impacts of China on forestry, and the positive effects of Chinese support for wind and solar power.

ANALYSIS OF THE BRI AND CHINA’S OFDI IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
ZHIKAI WANG ◽  
YANGYANG LU ◽  
SIMIN ZHANG ◽  
ENGIDAW SISAY NEGASH
Keyword(s):  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Transportation Cost ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
World Population ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

The “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) has been launched by the Chinese government in 2013. The aim was to stimulate cross-border economic development in massive geographical areas covering Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa, and Latin America which accounts for 80% and 40% of the world population and gross domestic product (GDP), respectively. The BRI has devised an extension of the “going global” strategy to reconfigure China’s overseas sector in order to extend its spillovers, and create more development opportunities for participating countries. In practice, cross-border infrastructure was a comprehensive role to reduce transportation cost; however, the BRI was vast by nature that includes financial support, policy cooperation, investment, trade facilitation, and people-to-people exchanges for the humanitarian strategy. Against this backdrop, the overarching objective of this study was to analyze the impact of the BRI and Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on the bilateral trade between China and Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The investigation was carried out using a trade gravity model, balanced panel dataset, and multivariate regression estimation strategy for robustness checks covering 16 years. The result showed that Chinese OFDI, home, and host country’s GDP and GDP per capita income variables have a positive and statistically significant impact on the bilateral trade. Moreover, the BRI has explained positively on the bilateral trade; however, it does not have enough evidence to stimulate significantly, and it usually takes a long time for the effects of the BRI investment on trade and OFDI. The study also found that geographical distance and official exchange rates have explained negatively and statistically significant impact on the bilateral trade.

scholarly journals Conditional Efficiency of Official Development Assistance (ODA) on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ladifatou GACHILI NDI GBAMBIE ◽  
Ousseni MONGBET
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Method Of Moment ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ssa Countries

<p>Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries have benefited for more than fifty years from international aid in the form of loans and/or donations. Nevertheless, they seem not to benefit from these massive financial resources (ODA) they receive because their economic and social situation is not very good. This study aims to assess the impact of ODA on economic growth in SSA and to see if its effect on growth is conditioned by the quality of the economic policy. The estimates are conducted on a dynamic panel of twenty-three SSA countries running from 1985 to 2014. With macroeconomic data from the World Bank's CD-ROM (World Development Indicators, 2015), the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) system from Blundel and Bond (1998) was used. The results show that the impact of ODA on growth is not significant. Subsequently, when squared aid (ODA2) is included in the estimate, ODA becomes significant, meaning that a substantial amount of assistance is required to be effective in raising the economic growth rate of the SSA countries. In addition, the effectiveness of ODA is conditioned by the quality of the economic policy. This seems to be bad in SSA, hence the negative impact of the aid on economic growth.</p>

scholarly journals COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON HUMAN WELFARE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

10.23856/3002 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Olukayode Emmanuel Maku ◽  
Bolaji Adesola Adesoye ◽  
Awoyemi Olayiwola Babasanya ◽  
Oluwaseyi Adedayo Adelowokan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Random Effects ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Fixed And Random Effects ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ssa Countries

The world has become more linked owing to the increased intensity of globalisation across regions. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become more relatively integrated into the world economy as shown by increasing degree of trade openness and foreign direct investment. Over the same period, quality of life of people in SSA in terms of access to basic necessity, monetary and non-monetary indices of poverty have been on the declining trend. This study adopted endogenous growth theory in analysing the comparative effects of globalisation between the highly and weakly globalised economies in SSA countries. Four channels of transmission of impact of globalisation were considered: trade openness, financial and capital flows labour mobility and access to telephone. Data for 16 SSA countries – 8 weakly globalised and 8 strongly globalised countries based on KOF globalisation index, were sourced from the world Development indicator for the period of 1980-2012. The feasible generalised least square (GLS) estimator was utilized to estimate the fixed and random effects panel regression models. Hausman test was used to determine the efficient estimator between fixed and random effects. All estimated coefficients were evaluated at 5% level of significance. The outcome of the comparative analysis revealed a mix result in some cases and unidirectional in some. In all, countries with higher intensity of globalisation have a greater improvement in their human welfare indicators compared to countries with weak globalisation indices. The study then recommended an improved reform in global integration to enable the region maximize the immense benefits inherent in global connections.

scholarly journals From privilege to prevalence: contextual effects of women's schooling on African marital timing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Frye ◽  
Sara Lopus
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
The Social ◽  
Educational Groups ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

In Africa and elsewhere, educated women tend to marry later than their less educated peers. Beyond being an attribute of individual women, education is also an aggregate phenomenon: the social meaning of a woman’s educational attainment depends on the educational attainments of her agemates. Using data from 30 countries and 246 birth cohorts across sub-Saharan Africa, we investigate the impact of educational context (the percent of women in a country cohort who ever attended school) on the relationship between a woman’s own educational attainment and her marital timing. In contexts where access to education is prevalent, the marital timing of uneducated and highly-educated women is more similar than it is in contexts where attending school is limited to a privileged minority. This across-country convergence is driven by no-education women marrying later in high-education contexts, especially through lower rates of very early marriages. However, within countries over time, the marital ages of women from different educational groups tend to diverge as educational access expands. This within-country divergence is most often driven by later marriage among highly-educated women, although some countries’ divergence is driven by earlier marriage among women who never attended school.

Can Access to Microfinance Reduce HIV Prevalence among Women?

2014 ◽  
pp. 135-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Atta Peprah ◽  
Charles Buonbah
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Hiv Prevalence ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Magic Bullet ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Prevention Of Hiv

Microfinance has been heralded by many as the magic bullet, able to empower marginalized populations by investing into their agency. It has been growing at an average rate of about 40%, and providers have shown interest in reducing HIV prevalence and promoting health educational attainment among beneficiaries’ children especially among women who are vulnerable in most societies. Advocates of microfinance interventions have often stated it aims at improving lives by enabling clients to launch and nurture their own small businesses and enterprises so that they can become independent and improve their livelihoods. However, complementary to microfinance strategy is to assist clients in generating income and growing assets from the impact of crises events such as HIV and related diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis. Sub-Saharan Africa as compared to the rest of the world faces a serious HIV epidemic and the poor in general and women in particular are mostly at risk. This group of people is also the target for microfinance initiatives. The study reviews some theoretical and empirical literature about poverty, HIV and microfinance. The chapter establishes the fact that if microfinance can reduce poverty then it could also be used as a tool for preventing HIV infection. Policy recommendation that will enable microfinance institutions to contribute to the prevention of HIV, and its related diseases are offered.

Microfinance institutions' risk and governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haileslasie Tadele ◽  
Helen Roberts ◽  
Rosalind Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Financial Risk ◽  
Risk Measures ◽  
Generalized Least Squares ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Female Director ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the impact of MFI-level governance on microfinance institutions' (MFIs’) risk in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Design/methodology/approachThe study uses data from a sample of 151 MFIs operating in 21 SSA countries during 2005–2014. The Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) regression model is applied to investigate the relationship between MFI level governance mechanisms and risk.FindingsThe study provides new evidence that board characteristics have differential effects on for-profit (FP) and not-for-profit (NFP) MFI risk. Board independence reduces credit risk of NFP MFIs. Foreign director presence increases MFI failure risk. Furthermore, greater female director representation reduces (increases) FP (NFP) financial risk whereas female CEOs are associated with higher (lower) FP (NFP) financial risk.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to existing literature on microfinance governance and risk, by exploring the impact of governance on MFI risk based on MFIs profit orientation. In addition, the study uses three different risk measures unlike previous microfinance studies.

scholarly journals Diabetes in Africa sub-Saharan Distribution Based on Social Status: The Case of Libreville (Gabon)

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 459
Author(s):  
Guy S. Padzys ◽  
Joseph P Ondo ◽  
Priscilla L Omouenze ◽  
Sylvie Zongo
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modifiable Factor ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Diabetes Center ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

<p class="Pa5"><strong>Objectives: </strong>Many researchers continue to believe that urbanization is a major contributor to diabetes. We seek to demon­strate that the social status associated with urbanization has an impact on the preva­lence of diabetes in Libreville, Gabon in sub-Saharan Africa.</p><p class="Pa5"><strong>Methods: </strong>Our study was conducted in Li­breville, the capital of Gabon; the city has a population of 397,000. Our study analyzed data from the registries of patients hospital­ized in 2013 in the main diabetes center in Libreville.</p><p class="Pa5"><strong>Result: </strong>The results revealed that, for 2013, 798 patients were hospitalized with diabetes at a prevalence of .2%. We found differences (<em>P</em>&lt;.05) between women (423) and men (375). Mean age for women was 52.02 years and 48.88 years for men. The number of existing cases hospitalized was significantly more than new cases. All levels of society were represented in our study: students (42); military (36); administratives (99); technicians (180); unemployed (295); and retired (146). The results showed that the unemployed (36%), particularly women (29.40%) are most affected by diabetes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our results show the impact of social status on the increase of diabetes in Libreville. We found that urbanization, associated with insecurity especially in women, had an effect on the prevalence of diabetes in Libreville. These results indicate that, apart from the non-modifiable fac­tors (age, race, ethnicity), insecurity is a modifiable factor that should be taken into account. <em>Ethn Dis. </em>2015;25(4):459-462; doi:10.18865/ed.25.4.459</p>

scholarly journals Legacies of mistrust: Why colonial imprints on the implementation of fiscal reforms in Mozambique and Mexico matter

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Carolini ◽  
Sara Lynn Hess
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Decentralization ◽  
High Income ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

National authorities across Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa have implemented various forms of fiscal decentralization over the past three decades with equivocal results. The design of such reforms has long rested on theories based on the experiences of high-income countries’ efforts at increasing local autonomy, accountability, and basic service efficiencies. Critics of the global advocacy for fiscal decentralization, however, point to several challenges with its implementation across diverse political economies that differ significantly from those in high-income environments. Nonetheless, these critiques often obscure the impact that colonial regimes and their legacies have on current efforts to fiscally decentralize. In two post-colonial environments where fiscal decentralization projects have unrolled, namely Mozambique and Mexico, we show how colonial imprints remain critical to understanding efforts at fiscal decentralization. Our focus in these cases is on how race-based caste systems introduced under colonial administrations fed the development and evolution of dual governance systems across spaces and peoples that bred mistrust between residents, local authorities and central authorities. We argue that the conflicting rationales in evidence between stakeholders involved in fiscal decentralization projects today are rooted in the social mistrust and power struggles born from these colonial experiences. In conclusion, we contend that fiscal decentralization reforms must explicitly grapple with these spatialized and racialized legacies of mistrust and the diverse rationalities guiding stakeholders in both the design and evaluation of public policies meant to strengthen local autonomy, transparency, and efficiencies.

The social welfare impact of double tax treaties in Sub Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hema Soondram ◽  
Martin Samy ◽  
Bhavish Jugurnath
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Tax Treaties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ssa Countries

Purpose This study aims to analyze tax revenue in the presence of double tax treaties affecting social welfare of the inhabitants in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) developing economies, whose fiscal regimes are being branded as responsible for exacerbating poverty for the inhabitants. This paper seeks to determine if double tax treaties are negatively impacting on human development of the host countries. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses 21 SSA countries from 1996 to 2016 using panel models and bootstrapped quantile regression. It uses a devised mathematical model which introduces the interaction between tax revenue and double tax treaties and measures the social welfare impact using the human development index (HDI). Findings The findings have broadly shown that (i) the net effect from the complementarity between tax revenue and double tax treaty (DTTs) in influencing the human development is for the most part negative (ii) the impact of tax revenue from international trade has the most positive net effect as compared to other tax revenues when interacted with the DTT and (iii) the DTT complements the tax revenue from income, profits and capital gains to progressively increase human development in the upper quartiles of HDI. Research limitations/implications This study has examined how the presence of double tax treaties has impacted the effect of tax revenue on human development in 21 SSA countries for the period 1996–2016. A mathematical model was devised and bootstrapped quantile regression was used owing to the specificities of the sample. In accordance with recent literature on net effects, the results were interpreted. Practical implications It is evident that further research is required on whether double tax treaties are indirectly responsible for poverty on the rise in SSA countries or on the contrary, they bring FDI alongside with other positive spillovers which in the end contribute to a rise in the human development aspect of societies in developing host economies. Social implications The HDI is an important measure used nowadays for human development as a proxy for social welfare. This research will use an HDI mathematical model devised by Sinha and Sengupta (2019) and adapt it to the context to testing econometrically whether double tax treaties have an impact on welfare or poverty reduction. The empirical results will help determine whether tax treaties are impacting the social welfare positively or negatively. Originality/value This result is the first research attempt to consider both the impact of tax revenue (which is expected to have a positive impact on social welfare of the people of the host developing countries) and the impact of double tax treaties simultaneously. It is the first empirical study focusing on the impact of tax revenue on human development in the presence of double tax treaties. Its methodology is original and adds to the current literature to benefit policymakers and academia.

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