Determining the Impact of Economic Factors to the Gross Domestic Product in Bangladesh

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is believed to be an indicator of a country’s economic condition. Bangladesh’s GDP increased at a pace of 8.15% in fiscal 2018-19 as per the base year 2005-06. By the year 2019, Bangladesh has become the seventh fastest-growing economy in the world. This paper used multiple regression analysis model for the macroeconomic factors. The aim of this study is to measure the effects of macroeconomic factors considering GDP as the dependent variables and inflation rate, import, and export are considered as independent. This paper represents that import and export are positively associated factors with GDP whereas inflation rate is a negatively associated factor. This study concluded with revealing the importance of conducting further study by considering more economic variables to measure the economic growth as a whole.

A Political Economy of Wellbeing/Wellness in Nigeria

Since the turn of the new millennium, which was the period of clear comparison and computation of the misery index, Nigeria had always record low in the index for the report. Within the last three years, the misery index that was published has shown that Nigeria is the sixth (6th) most miserable country that one can reside. This measure of misery index was also substantiated by the recent report from the World Bank on the issue of poverty, inequality, and wellness. However, it seems to be an intensified interest in how Nigeria will overcome such an unpleasant pattern. In this research, the study examined how macroeconomic indices in enhancing people’s wellbeing—utilising economic growth, monetary policy position, and governance efficiency as, unemployment, interest rate, and inflation rate for macroeconomic performance indicators. The conclusions drawn suggest that economic growth, resulting in the advancement of wellbeing via allocative as well as distributive productivity is possible. Second, there is a stiffening effect on the wellbeing of contractionary monetary policy which increases interest rates and unemployment rates. The outcome extracted also shows that unnecessary domestic lending characteristics of the Nigerian economic system invalidate the wellbeing of the Nigerian people. Therefore, it proposed that the monetary authority reevaluate its present position on sustaining a high level of rediscount rate. Received: 17 November 2021 / Accepted: 30 December 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022

EFFECT OF INSUFFICIENT CURRENCY IN CIRCULATION ON THE RATE OF INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA: THE BUHARI’S ADMINISTRATION EXPERIENCE

This study investigated the effect of insufficient currency in circulation on the rate of inflation and unemployment in Nigeria: The Buhari’s Administration Experience; using annual time-series data ranging from 1985 to 2020. In achieving this task, the study was disaggregated into two models: model 1 utilizing Vector Error Correction Model to analyse the relationship between fiscal variables (government total expenditure, government tax revenue, and export) and unemployment rate. It was revealed from the unit root of Augmented Dickey-Fuller test that none of the (fiscal) variables was stationary at level, but they were all stationary after 1st Differencing. This made it necessary for the study to apply Johansen co-integration test which the estimated result indicated 1 co-integration equation as evidenced by Trace statistic. This also, necessitated the application of Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and it was observed that it took 61.71% annual speed of adjustment towards long-run equilibrium from short-run disequilibrium for unemployment rate to return to equilibrium after a shock to fiscal variables. The results further explained that government total expenditure, and government tax revenue, had negative and insignificant impact on unemployment rate respectively, thereby reducing unemployment rate. Similarly, the estimated result indicated that export had positive impact on unemployment thereby increasing unemployment rate within the period under study. Similarly, in analysing monetary variables (money supply, exchange rate and prime lending rate) in model 2: Phillip-Peron unit root test was conducted and it was confirmed that the variables were of mixed order of integration which necessitated the employment of ARDL technique. The ARDL bounds testing result revealed that a long-run relationship existed between monetary variables, and inflation. It was found, in the long-run, that money supply caused inflation rate to rise. More so, the result further revealed that present level of exchange rate decelerated inflation rate in both long-run and short-run. While, it was further observed that the one-year lag and two-year lag of exchange rate increased rate of inflation in both log-run and short-run respectively. The estimated result further revealed that the present level of prime lending rate minimised the rate of inflation in the long-run and short-run. Whereas, similar results were further confirmed in the one-year lag and two-year lag that prime lending rate reduced inflation rate in both log-run and short-run. As a result of these findings, with respect to model 1; the study recommended that government should maintain the level of its expenditure and tax revenue as this reduced unemployment rate, and it should lower trade costs so that demand for labour would increase in the export industry, this would make aggregate unemployment rate to reduce. With respect to model 2; it recommended the adoption of contractionary monetary policy that would minimise the amount of money supply that caused long-run effect on inflation in the system. Furthermore, there should be proper maintenance of fixed exchange rate policy that will make exchange rate regime overcome non-military forces of demand and supply in exchange rate market, this will help maintain low rate of inflation.

Factors Affecting Employee Retention in Zimbabwean Companies

The decline of the Zimbabwean economy characterised by the high inflation rate has rendered it difficult for Zimbabwean manufacturing to retain talented employees. The quantitative research methodology was adopted in this paper. The sample size of the study comprised 100 respondents who were randomly selected from the manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe. The sample size of the study was made out of 10 managing directors 10 managers 10 supervisors and 70 employees drawn from the 50 manufacturing companies that were randomly selected. It was established that the companies are failing to retain talented employees and a lot of the employees are leaving the organisations. Retrenchments and restructurings have become the order of the day. The study recommended that employees needed to implement employee retention strategies to remain viable.

Inflation Rate Modelling Through a Hybrid Model of Seasonal Autoregressive Moving Average and Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network

This study examines the performance of seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA), multilayer perceptron neural networks (MLPNN), and hybrid SARIMA-MLPNN model(s) in modelling and forecasting inflation rate using the monthly consumer price index (CPI) data from 2010 to 2019 obtained from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The forecast errors in inflation rate forecasting are analyzed and compared. The study employed root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) as performance measures. The results indicate that significant improvements in forecasting accuracy are obtained with the hybrid model (SARIMA-MLPNN) compared to the SARIMA and MLPNN. The MLPNN model outperformed the SARIMA model. However, the hybrid SARIMA-MLPNN model outperformed both the SARIMA and MLPNN in terms of forecasting accuracy/accuracy performance.

Effect of Macroeconomic Variables on Financial Performance of Healthcare Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

This study empirically investigated the effect of macroeconomic variables on financial performance in Nigeria healthcare sector. It spanned for the period of 2008-2018 and utilized annual time series secondary data extracted from annual reports and financial statements of the selected firms. Ex-post facto research design was adopted while analytical techniques employed were descriptive statistics, fully modified ordinary least squares panel regression and Pearson correlation analysis. Findings revealed that changes in macroeconomic indices play significant roles on the financial position of Healthcare manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Particularly, result showed that exchange rate, interest rate, external debt and trade openness have negative effect while inflation rate exert positive influence to financial position of Healthcare manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Among the selected macroeconomic variables, the effects of exchange rate and inflation rate were significant. Implication of the result is that unstable macroeconomy is harmful to healthy growth of Healthcare manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The study therefore recommended among other things that exchange rate should be monitored while economic policy measures aimed at controlling exchange rate in Nigeria should be established. High rate of interest should also be regulated and set to a rate favourable to the growth of Healthcare manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Federal government of Nigeria should work towards reducing their level of borrowing from foreign countries and as well reduce volume of trade openness for overall performance of manufacturing sector in Nigeria.

The Implications of Covid-19 Pandemic on Consumer Burden in Malaysia: An Analysis

The effects of Covid-19 are continuing to increase around the world as the pandemic claims millions of lives. Malaysia is no exception and has been remarkably affected by the pandemic. Apart from the number of people who are or have been infected with this virus, millions of people are directly or indirectly facing many challenges to their living. The challenges include increased cost of living, income reduction or losses, decreased purchasing power, and unemployment, along with other societal issues created by the pandemic. This study contextualised the implications of the pandemic on consumers’ burden in Malaysia, focusing on the cost of living and unemployment. Observations on prices, inflation, and unemployment rates were conducted to provide meaningful evidence. Major findings revealed that the cost of living has risen, contributed by the increase in prices, especially for food items, healthcare, and education. The unemployment rate also expanded due to the lockdown measures, which led to income losses and reduction. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought challenges to the consumers as measures taken to curb the pandemic have altered many aspects of life and increased the consumers’ burden. Although the inflation rate remains manageable, a major concern lies in many people’s income reduction or income losses. This study implies that the government, together with private institutions and NGOs, needs to work hand in hand to minimise the consumers’ financial burden, especially during this pandemic. It is hoped that the discussion presented in this paper would shed light on the impact of the pandemic on consumers’ burden in Malaysia.

MACROECONOMIC BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA

The study evaluates the effect of the global macro-economic business environment on the development of Small-Scale and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. Secondary data on the global macro-economic index of SMEs businesses were selected over 35 years (1985–2019). The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis techniques. The study revealed the positive coefficient value of 354 836.6525 and 24 141 873.6 for the gross domestic product (GDP) on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Budget variables. A negative coefficient value of –16347085.61 and –232997.0657 was obtained for the inflation rate and the exchange rate, respectively. The coefficient values show the level at which the development of SMEs businesses was affected through the global environmental factors. The study concluded that the global macro-economic business environment directly affects the development of SMEs businesses. The study recommends a policy strategy that will face out the global macro-economic constraints affecting SMEs businesses.

Legal construction of interest rate determination in information technology-based lending services in Indonesia

There is a legal vacuum regarding determining loan interest rates in Article 17 paragraph (1) POJK No. 77/01/2016 concerning Information Technology-Based Lending and Borrowing Services (ITBLBS). With this legal vacuum, O.J.K. has given the authority to AFPI to self-regulate the determination of loan interest rates at ITBLBS. With authority as an S.R.O. ( Self Regulating Organization ) institution owned by the Indonesian Joint Funding Fintech Association (IJFFA). The method used is normative legal research by analyzing primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials related to the research title. The interest rate in the code of conduct that IFFFA determines as the principle of operation in ITBLBS directly affects the inflation rate. However, Bank Indonesia, as the institution authorized and responsible for targeting inflation in terms of controlling interest rates circulating in the fintech market, is not given any authority based on Article 17 POJK N0. 77 of 2016. This is in contrast to the inflation targeting objective, which is the authority of B.I. It can be concluded that the determination of interest rates in the existing ITBLBS is normatively out of sync between the objectives of the legislation and the objectives of the IJFFA code of conduct.