Relationship between Challenges Militating against Mortgage Finance and Benefits of Mortgage Acquisition in Ghana: Case of SSNIT

Past studies on the mortgage market of Ghana evidenced that absence of long-term sources of housing funds, low-income levels, macroeconomic instability, inability to assess the creditworthiness of prospective mortgagors among others plague the development of Ghana’s mortgage market. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between challenges militating against mortgage finance and benefits of mortgage acquisition in Ghana. Questionnaires were used to elicit responses from respondents. Convenience sampling technique was used to select one hundred (100) respondents comprising staff at SSNIT Head Office in Accra, SSNIT contributors, beneficiaries of SSNIT funds, mortgage applicants, owners and occupants of SSNIT flats. Mean score ranking, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, one sample t-test and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were the analytical tools adopted. Dollarization of mortgage markets, access to funding for the scheme, macroeconomic instability and inability to assess creditworthiness of mortgage applicant were the most significant challenges. The most significant benefits were: (1) increase in the rate of house construction; (2) ability to provide a relatively low-interest credit; (3) capacity to mitigate housing deficits; and (4) capability to provide a relatively long-term credit for housing. Structural Equation Model was developed to evaluate the relationship between the challenges and benefits. The study is beneficial to stakeholders such as policymakers, financial institutions, Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) and SSNIT contributors. This work is a pioneering study in Ghana on the relationship between challenges SSNIT encounters in mortgage financing and benefits of acquiring mortgage facilities with the assistance of SSNIT.

Government expenditure and macroeconomic stability conundrum in Zimbabwe

The objective of this paper was to explore the effect of government expenditure growth on macroeconomic stability in Zimbabwe. Public expenditure has grown over time but as per a priori expectations, other macroeconomic variables have not been forth coming. What the country has actually experienced is prolonged macroeconomic instability. The paper contributes to the body of literature in two ways, (1) by creating a macroeconomic instability index and (2) by being the first in the Zimbabwean context to explore this conundrum. To achieve the main objective of the paper, the study used a cointegrated vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality with data spanning 1981 to 2019. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between government expenditure and macroeconomic stability as argued mostly by the Keynesians. However, according to a priori expectations, the relationship turned out to be rightly negative. To buttress the Cointegrated-VECM results, granger causality tests were also conducted where no causality was found from government spending to macroeconomic stability, and vice versa (causality running from instability to government spending). This paper recommends that, Zimbabwe’s policy makers may need to consider proactive government spending or policies, since that helps the economy to successfully avoid possible risks such as macroeconomic instability. When policies are proactive rather than reactive, that helps by seizing untapped opportunities, and the economy justly avoids consequences of reactive governance.

Changes of Strategic Pricing Policy of Logistics Service Providers in Financial Macroeconomic Instability

This paper aims to examine the influence of macroeconomic instability on the microeconomic environment, especially on financial strategy after the application of strategic pricing policy by providers of logistics services and make recommendations for providers who use pricing as a marketing tool. Special attention is paid to enhancing their competitive position in times of economic crisis. The research is based on an analysis of the situation during the 2008–2009 economic crisis. It is hypothesized that the number of providers who applied a strategic pricing policy after its culmination in 2010 was higher than in 2008 (shortly before the onset of the crisis). The conclusions derived are then transferred to the period of the 2020 coronavirus economic recession under the assumption of the same analogical characteristics of both periods. The paper does not speculate – its purpose is to present a thorough and complex analysis of the situation by employing a wide range of statistical instruments, thereby attaining results of a very high level of statistical reliability. The study has the potential to be a valuable contribution to the literature in its respective field, especially during global anti-Covid measures, which makes the theme of strengthening competitive positions of logistics service providers very topical.

Strategic regional planning: new challenges and challenges

The article discusses the problems of using strategic regional planning in a changing external environment and macroeconomic instability. The directions of creating adaptation mechanisms that can make strategic planning in the regions flexible and meet modern requirements and solve the problems of improving the quality of life of the population, growing the Russian economy and ensuring the security of the country are indicated.

Modern trends in unemployment

Unemployment is an integral part of a market economy. This means that the inevitable feature of a market economy is the existence of a certain level of unemployment, despite the fact that unemployment is one of the visible indicators of macroeconomic instability in the country. Unemployment causes macroeconomic instability precisely when the level of actual unemployment exceeds the set natural limit.

MONETARY MEASURES AND CURRENCY REGULATION DURING MACROECONOMIC INSTABILITY AND WORLD UNCERTAINTY

This study is devoted to the comparative analysis of the rules of foreign exchange regulation and control, as well as monetary measures implemented in developed counties during 2003-2020. Accordingly, the purpose is to compare currency restrictions imposed as a response to several economic, political and epidemiological situations and determine their relevance. The study consists of three main parts. The first section highlights the evolution of the monetary policies of different countries during the rapid global economic growth (2003-2007) and key monetary novation before and after the 2008-2009 great recession (macroprudential approach to monetary regulation). The second section describes the world post-crisis monetary system in terms of foreign exchange regimes. Finally, in the third section, the main focus is directed on the period of the COVID-19 crisis and, eventually, key monetary policy measures imposed in the leading economic areas as a reaction to macroeconomic instability and world uncertainty. The practical implications of this study are noteworthy to consider as the problem is outlined in three aspects: 1) evolutionary (with a step-by-step analysis of economic events from 2003 to 2020); 2) instrumental (with analysis of the tools of monetary, macroprudential and monetary policy); 3) country (in the context of world uncertainty). In most cases, the results show that countries produce shocks that transferred to the rest of the world (spillbacks effect). Also, in a financially integrated world, macroprudential policies are valuable and essential because instability becomes a key defect of the modern market system. That is why monetary policy, especially after the crisis, is critical in stabilizing macroeconomic fluctuations.