Monetary Policy Response in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania for Coping with the Pandemic COVID-19 in 2020

This study aims to analyse how the monetary policies of the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania, as one of the two critical macroeconomic policies, have reacted in response to COVID-19 for the year 2020. Last year, the year 2020, the pandemic caused these two countries to react through monetary policy. This research examines how central banks of both countries have changed traditional monetary policy tools for tackling the pandemic, starting with open market operations, required reserve ratio, the overnight loans interest rate, and the available deposits interest rate. The research continues with analyzing whether they were used and what non-traditional tools were applied in that period. The study analysis concludes which monetary policies have been pursued in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Albania, whether there have been non-traditional tools and how the scope for interbank interest rate volatility has changed. Our study revealed that both countries had pursued an expansive monetary policy, there were also non-traditional tools, and the scope for interbank interest rate volatility has shifted towards narrowing. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Risk Management and Performance of Conventional Banks in Pakistan

The study examines the relationship between risk management and performance of conventional banks in Pakistan. The study has been conducted using Capital adequacy ratio, non-performing loan ratio, Cost per loan ratio, Cash reserve ratio and Z-scoring ratio as the proxies of risk management and Return on asset has been used as the proxy of the bank financial performance. The study has used random sampling technique for the 20 conventional banks for the period 2010 to 2016. The study uses correlation and simple OLS to test the hypothesis. The results reveal that capital adequacy ratio and Z-scoring have positive significant impact on the conventional banks, financial performance, where as Non-performing ratio, cost per loan ratio and cash reserve ratio predicting negative affect on the financial performance of the conventional banks in Pakistan. The study has practical as well as theoretical implications. The results are expected to help policy makers to rehash their policies by encompassing the approaches that facilitate the risk management of banks in Pakistan. The study will also help researchers in strengthening their level of understanding of these relationships. Replication of the study may help to validate the hypothesized model and their consequent application in the organizations that share somewhat similar organizational structures.

Spatial analysis of natural reserve fund of the Zakarpatska Oblast

The article brings light to the study of the nature reserve fund (NRF) of Zakarpatska oblast as a component of the national heritage of the country. Representativeness is considered to be one of the main principles of spatial formation of the NRF object network. Therefore, to determine the current state and ensure further effective development of the region’s nature reserve fund, it is necessary to analyze its territorial and internal structural indicators. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current status of the region’s nature reserve fund with the reference to the possibility of introduction of the further new management practices. The article is based on information and statistical materials, the provisions of regional programs for the formation of the ecological network and environmental legislation of Ukraine. To solve the assigned tasks, there has been done a comprehensive analysis of statistical reporting data and materials of the NRF Register in Zakarpatska oblast of the Department of Ecology of Natural Resources of Zakarpattia Regional State Administration within the period of 2019, and reporting documents of environmental institutions for the same period. The considered indicator is the territorial distribution of nature reserve areas and region areas by administrative districts (before the formation and implementation of changes to the administrative-territorial structure of the Zakarpatska oblast), which is presented in the form of the division into four groups. The spatial distribution of the territory and the NFR objects do not sufficiently meet the criteria of local representativeness, so their spatial structure needs significant improvement, be specific – the creation of nature reserves, especially in the lowlands of the region. The average density of nature protection objects in the region (36 units / 1000 km2) is almost three times higher than the corresponding indicator in the neighboring Lviv region. The average value of the reserve factor in the region makes 14.17 %. It has been found that the reserve ratio demonstrates geographically the largest disproportion in Zakarpatska oblast. It is the highest indicator in turns of administrative entities in the districts of Mizhhiria, Velyky Bereznyi and Rakhiv. The lowest one is in Svaliava and Berehove districts, respectively. In addition, the reserve ratio compared to the national average indicator and in other European countries has been carried out. The quality of the nature reserve network is determined by the insularity coefficient, which indicates the size of the NRF objects and their stability. Further expansion of the network of nature protection objects in Zakarpatska oblast is possible due to the creation of Latorytsa, Shaian and Uzhok landscape parks. A big assumption can be made that by 2020 it will be possible to create new and expand existing areas of NRF in the region up to 100–120 thousand hectares, which will increase the protected area up to 20–22 %. The key issues of nature reserves to be developed in Zakarpatska oblast are primarily related to the imperfection of the management system. To handle this problem, there is an urgent need to develop a strategy, which will envisage the perception of the NRF as a holistic anthropogenic and natural unit in order to put into practice the environmental, scientific, educational and recreational functions.

Does Financial Sector Development Hinders or Promotes Human Development in Nigeria? Asymmetric and Causality Analysis

This study examines the relationship between financial sector development and human development in Nigeria for the period of 1986 to 2018 using Non-linear Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) and Toda Yamamoto Granger non-causality approaches. Empirical findings that emanated from the study reveal the existence of nonlinear relationship between financial sector development indices and human development in Nigeria. Further, feedback from the Toda Yamamoto Granger non-causality test shows that money supply constitutes the only variable exerting bidirectional nexus with human development. Conversely, bank deposit appeared to have a unidirectional relationship with human development whereas other indicators like domestic credit to GDP and bank penetration have no causal relationship with human development within the period of study. Prominent policy implication derivable from the empirical analyses suggests the need for the monetary policy authority to place more emphasis on quantity-based monetary tools such as liquidity ratio and reserve ratio for managing the economy.

Longitudinal Rehabilitation of Binocular Function in Adolescent Intermittent Exotropia After Successful Corrective Surgery

PurposeTo study the longitudinal rehabilitation of binocular visual function in adolescent intermittent exotropia (IXT) after successful surgery and compare the results with those of a normal population. The role of binocular function in ocular alignment stability was also evaluated postoperatively.MethodsIn this prospective study, 30 adolescents with IXT successfully corrected after 1 month were followed for 12 months, and 30 children with normal vision were enrolled as controls. Stereopsis, the fusional vergence amplitude, sensory fusion, and accommodative flexibility were measured to assess binocular function at baseline and 6 and 12 months postoperatively. The controls were tested once when they were enrolled in the study.ResultsThe deviation was −32.00 ± 8.60 prism diopters (PD) at distance fixation and −36.0 ± 9.10 PD at near fixation preoperatively with an average correction of 28.53 ± 3.79 PD and 30.67 ± 1.34 PD at 1 month postoperatively. Distance stereoacuity and near stereoacuity improved from 1 to 12 months postoperatively (p = 0.025 and p = 0.041, respectively). Compared with the controls, the fusional convergence reserve at distance (p = 0.025) and near (p = 0.033) fixations and fusion reserve ratio at distance (p = 0.000) and near (p = 0.000) fixations remained subnormal, whereas sensory fusion (p = 0.237), distance stereopsis (p = 0.120), and the fusional divergence amplitude at a distance (p = 0.168) were normal. However, no significant correlations were found between binocular functions at 1 month postoperatively and the postoperative drift.ConclusionBinocular function significantly improved from before to after successful corrective surgery and continued to improve from 1 to 12 months postoperatively in adolescents with IXT. No significant correlations were found between binocular functions at 1 month postoperatively and ocular alignment stability.

Effect of Non-Performing Loans on the Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria

The study examined the effect of Non-Performing Loans on the financial performance of commercial banks in Nigeria between the periods of 1985 to 2016. The study employed the multiple regression techniques to analyze data collated from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) publications for various years. The result of the study shows that Non-Performing Loans to Total Loans ratio (NPL/TLR) and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) had statistically negative significant effect on Return on Asset (ROA). These result shows that a high level of non-performing loans would reduce the financial performance of commercial banks in Nigeria. Consequently, the study recommends that the regulatory authorities in Nigeria should create and support an environment where commercial banks in Nigeria can have a strong risk management practices.

Risk Stratification of Patients With NonObstructive Coronary Artery Disease Using Resistive Reserve Ratio

Background Resistive reserve ratio (RRR), or the ratio of baseline to hyperemic microvascular resistance, has prognostic implications in predicting clinical outcomes in patients with obstructive coronary artery disease. However, its value in patients with angina or ischemia with nonobstructive coronary artery disease is unknown. Methods and Results We included 1692 patients with nonobstructive coronary artery disease who underwent invasive coronary vasoreactivity testing. Abnormal coronary flow reserve (CFR, the ratio of hyperemic and baseline resting flow velocities) and RRR were defined as <2.5 and <2.62, respectively. The mortality rate was marginally higher in patients with abnormal CFR (428 patients [25%]) than those with normal CFR (38 [9%] versus 81 [6%]; P =0.08), and was significantly higher in patients with abnormal RRR (716 patients [42%]) than those with normal RRR (70 [10%] versus 49 [5%], P =0.0002) over the median follow‐up of 11.3 years. Patients with abnormal CFR had marginally lower survival than those with normal CFR (log‐rank P =0.08). In contrast, patients with abnormal RRR had significantly lower survival than those with normal RRR (log‐rank P =0.001). Abnormal RRR was associated with shorter time to death even after adjustment for other covariates (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.11–2.38; P =0.01). Conclusions In patients with no obstructive coronary artery disease, RRR was superior to CFR in predicting long‐term survival. An RRR <2.62 was associated with 1.6 times increased risk of death in patients with nonobstructive coronary artery disease. Indices of coronary microcirculatory resistive reserve comprising flow‐ and pressure‐derived values may reflect underlying microvascular pathology more faithfully than flow‐alone indices like CFR.

Determinants of Money Supply in Nigeria

Studies on money supply determinants focus on the Classicists or Monetarists, Keynesians and post-Keynesians variables like income and money multiplier. This research extends the literature on money supply determinants to include the influence of financial liberalization on money supply with a reference to Nigeria between 1980 and 2019, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. Data used for the study were collected from the 2019 CBN Annual Statistical Bulletin. The study found that financial liberalization is an important factor in determining money supply in Nigeria, in addition to currency ratio, required reserve ratio and high-powered money. As a result, the extent of the liberalization of the financial sector matters in decisions on the regulation of money supply in the economy.

Overview Perkembangan Pemanfaatan Energi Primer Gas Bumi Di Indonesia

Gas bumi merupakan salah satu energi primer di Indonesia yang memiliki berbagai peranan baik di sektor industri maupun rumah tangga. Gas bumi masih dipandang energi yang lebih bersih dan kompetitif bila dibandingkan dengan energi fosil lainnya namun terdapat sejumlah tantangan untuk mencapai target bauran energi primer gas bumi. Tantangan Indonesia masih memiliki cadangan gas bumi sebesar 77,29 TSCF pada tahun 2019 atau potensi cadangan berjangka waktu 29 tahun berdasarkan production to reserve ratio. Potensi cadangan ini dinilai lebih kecil bila dibandingkan dengan sumber energi fosil lainnya seperti jangka waktu cadangan batubara sampai 82 tahun. Tantangan lainnya adalah persentase ekspor gas bumi yang masih tinggi, pembangunan infrastruktur pemanfaatan gas bumi serta tingkat partisipasi dalam aktivitas eksplorasi wilayah kerja cadangan gas bumi. Tantangan ini dapat dikelola dengan dukungan kebijakan pemerintah untuk peningkatan aktivitas eksplorasi, perbaikan tata kelola dan hilirisasi gas bumi, penekanan angka ekspor gas bumi dengan persiapan pengembangan infrastruktur penyerapan suplai gas bumi untuk kebutuhan domestik, serta koordinasi dengan semua pihak terkait untuk memastikan pemenuhan perizinan terutama izin lingkungan dan isu sosial. Pengembangan produk DME sebagai substitusi impor LPG juga dapat dilakukan untuk memaksimalkan penggunaan gas bumi domestik. Pada masa pandemi Covid-19, penurunan energi primer lain seperti minyak bumi dan batubara tentunya menjadi kesempatan untuk meningkatkan persentase bauran energi gas bumi mencapai 22%. Penurunan harga gas bumi selama masa pandemi yang mengakibatkan penurunan ekspor gas dapat menjadi kesempatan untuk memanfaatkan gas bumi bagi kebutuhan domestik.