scholarly journals Does Conditionality on Borrowing Help?

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Prince Eyi-Mensah

<p>Borrowers of international financial institutions (IFIs) have both interest and conditionality to deal with. Using data from the World Governance Indicators (WGI), we investigated the influence of conditionality on borrowers. By applying a (RED) dynamic panel regression method, we found compelling evidence, which supports our intuition that conditionality increases the debt burden of borrowing countries. However, this was not the case for all the indebted countries. Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) had some of their external commitments reduced when they agreed to implement some sets of conditionality. In light of these findings, we posit that the advocated structural reforms which is used, as a justification for prescribing conditionality does not materialize as planned. It however, erodes the capacity of borrower countries toward their debt servicing obligations. A direct consequence is their (RED) incessant need for external development assistance. Results of the study also proved robust.</p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Fabian Reck

This paper analyzes the effect of world governance indicators on inward foreign direct investment. The sample covers 38 developed and 82 developing countries between 2002 and 2018. The results of the system GMM regressions suggest that governance indicators are important determinants of inward FDI for developed countries. Moreover, it is shown that it is important to control for dynamic effects. In comparison, for developing countries, other country characteristics – the mean tariff rate – are more important than the institutional setting.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-16
Author(s):  
Augustine Kwabena Tufuor ◽  
Mumuni Ishawu ◽  
Thomas Akrofi ◽  
Bernice Adu-Bekoe

Ghana rose from an insignificant position in 1997/8 to become the topmost maritime transit corridor for landlocked countries in West Africa and particularly for Burkina Faso around 2006. Since then, Ghana's transit corridor has, generally, been recording a declining trend in the yearly percentage throughput of Burkina Faso's maritime transit cargo that is transported along it. Popular opinion in the transit business in West Africa suggests a negative relationship between the level of Ce d'Ivoire's political stability and Burkina Faso's maritime transit cargo throughput that is transported along Ghana's transit corridor. This work, using data drawn from 1998, 2000 and 2002-2014 investigated the empirical veracity of such an opinion. Data were sourced from World Governance Indicators and also through questionnaires that were administered to a sample drawn from five major stakeholder official institutions involved in transit trade in Ghana. The study found a significant negative relationship between Ce d'Ivoire's political stability rank and Burkina Faso's maritime transit cargo throughput that was transported through Ghana's corridor over the specified period. The study, among others, recommends a reduction in the number of transit check points and the associated delays and bribery along Ghana's road corridor so as to make it more efficient and competitive in West Africa. Keywords: Land-locked country; transit; cargo; throughput; corridor; and 'transitor'


Author(s):  
Vincenzo Alfano ◽  
Salvatore Ercolano

AbstractIn order to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first wave of the pandemic numerous countries decided to adopt lockdown policies. It had been a considerable time since such measures were last introduced, and the first time that they were implemented on such a global scale in a contemporary, information intensive society. The effectiveness of such measures may depend on how citizens perceive the capacity of government to set up and implement sound policies. Indeed, lockdown and confinement policies in general are binding measures that people are not used to, and which raise serious concerns among the population. For this reason governance quality could affect the perception of the benefits related to the government’s choice to impose lockdown, making citizens more inclined to accept it and restrict their movements. In the present paper we empirically investigate the relation between the efficacy of lockdown and governance quality (measured through World Governance Indicators). Our results suggest that countries with higher levels of government effectiveness, rule of law and regulatory quality reach better results in adopting lockdown measures.


2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Clark

While much is known about the micro-level predictors of political knowledge, there have been relatively few efforts to study the potential macro-level causes of knowledge. Seeking to improve our understanding of country-based variation in knowledge, this article demonstrates that individuals have an easier time finding and interpreting information in political environments that provide the public with greater opportunities to engage, observe, and learn about the political process. To investigate that possibility, the article analyzes how the procedural quality of the political process affects political knowledge. Using data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the Worldwide Governance Indicators Project, survey analyses show that the transparency and responsiveness of a political system indeed influence the public’s information about political parties and, to a lesser extent, the amount of factual knowledge retained by survey respondents. In other words, the quality of democratic governance affects how much individuals know about the political process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-367
Author(s):  
Isaac Kwesi Ampah ◽  
Gábor Dávid Kiss

AbstractThe countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have experienced a positive growth rate of over five per cent per year, on average, since their transition from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative in 1996 and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative in 2006. Despite this growth, poverty and inequality are still very high. Employing the Driscoll – Kraay standard panel estimation method and dataset from 1990 to 2015, this paper sets out to examine the implications of external debt and capital flight on the general welfare of the people. The estimation results reveal that both external debt and capital flight have a welfare inhibiting effect, suggesting that increases in external borrowing or capital flight may lead to a reduction in the welfare of the people in the sub-region. The study, therefore, recommends to policymakers and government in the sub-region the need to tackle the revolving nature of external borrowing and capital flight and take steps to halt all channels through which deservingly acquired capital leaves the sub-region.


Author(s):  
Lucy Anning ◽  
Collins Frimpong Ofori ◽  
Ernest Kwame Affum

In this study we investigate the impact of government debt on the economic growth of Ghana adopting the methodology of the simple Ordinary Least Squares with data spanning from 1990 to 2015. Ghana has unfortunately found itself in the tragic situation of high external government debt which has led to high dependency on aid and other loans to support its development. These aids and loans have seen the debt of Ghana rise steadily over the years. As a result of the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) which was presented by the IMF and World Bank in 1999, Ghana was judged to be a HIPC with unsustainable debt enabling the country to benefit from debt relief. We investigate the impact of government debt (both external and domestic) by testing three related models at the domestic and external levels including the general growth of the Ghanaian economy. In constructing our dataset, we build on the study of many scholars including a substantial amount of new materials from both primary and secondary data sources being Ministry of Finance (MOF) or Treasury Latest actual data: Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM), Ghana and World Bank. The research findings revealed that there is a negative relationship between debt (domestic and external) and growth in the economy of Ghana and recommend among others that government debt borrowing should be discouraged while increasing the revenue base through tax reform programs is encouraged.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (86) ◽  
Author(s):  

This paper presents an assessment of Somalia’s eligibility for assistance under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The macroeconomic framework reflects the policy framework underlying the proposed three-year Fund-supported program. The debt relief analysis (DRA) remains largely unchanged, but some of the underlying debt data has been updated to reflect new information from creditors. In addition, this paper presents an assessment of debt management capacity in Somalia and a full Debt Sustainability Analysis under the Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries. The DRA reveals that, after traditional debt relief mechanisms are applied, Somalia’s debt burden expressed as the net present value of debt-to-exports ratio is 344.2 percent at the end of December 2018—significantly above the HIPC Initiative threshold. Despite the challenging environment, progress on reform and policy implementation has been good and sustained reforms have translated into economic results. In addition to the coordinated support from the World Bank and the IMF, reforms have been supported by other development partners.


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