Purpose The purpose of this paper is to primarily investigate the ability of independent central banks (central bank independence (CBI)) to improve fiscal performances in Africa, accounting for election years, and also to examine whether the effectiveness of CBI in improving fiscal performance is enhanced by higher political institutional quality. Design/methodology/approach Using recent CBI data from Garriga (2016) on 48 African countries, 90 other developing countries and 40 developed countries over the period 1970–2012, the authors apply a two stage system GMM with Windmeijer (2005) small sample robust correction estimator to examine the impact of CBI and elections on fiscal policy in Africa, other developing countries and developed countries. Findings The authors provide evidence that unlike in other developing countries and developed countries, CBI does not significantly improve fiscal performance in Africa. However, the effectiveness of CBI in improving fiscal performance in Africa is enhanced by higher levels of institutional quality. Although elections directly worsen fiscal performance in Africa, institutional quality enhances CBI’s effect on improving fiscal performance in election years across Africa, other developing countries and developed countries. Practical implications The findings of the study are significant as they provide insight into the benefits of having strong institutions to complement independent central banks in order to control fiscal indiscipline in election years. Originality/value The study is the first among the studies of CBI-fiscal policy nexus, to measure fiscal policy using net central bank claims on government as a percentage of GDP. In addition to the use of fiscal balance, this study also uses cyclically adjusted fiscal balance as a measure of fiscal policy. This is a critical channel through which independent central banks can constrain government spending. It also compares findings in Africa to other developing countries, noting some differences.

PurposeThis study examines the causal and dynamic link between financial inclusion and migrant remittances in sub-Saharan Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a panel vector autoregressive (VAR) framework to examine the dynamic relationship between financial inclusion and migrant remittances in sub-Saharan Africa.FindingsThe findings indicate that there is a reverse causality between financial inclusion and migrant remittances in sub-Saharan Africa.Practical implicationsThe practical implications of these findings are that central governments and economic policymakers in sub-Saharan African countries should formulate and implement policies aimed at fostering financial inclusion if they are to attract more migrant remittances to promote economic growth and financial sector development. This suggests that these two variables are complementary and not contradictory. The results also suggest that central banks and other financial institutions can leverage the positive effect of financial inclusion of financial sector development to enhance the development of the financial sector instead of pursuing financial sector development as a policy objective. This means policies aimed at promoting financial inclusion will not impede or sacrifice migrant remittances, economic growth and financial sector development.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to construct a financial inclusion index to examine the link between financial inclusion and migrant remittances from the sub-Saharan Africa perspectivePeer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-10-2019-0612/

PurposeThis study provides empirical evidence for the first time on how different measures of monetary policy affect banking profitability in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachProviding empirical evidence on how different measures of monetary policy affect banking profitability in Ghana using 29 banks for period between 2006 and 2016, new monetary indexes are developed and a robust panel random effect models is employed with year effect controls.FindingsThe results show that while increase in monetary policy basis point reduced banking profitability, average monetary policy rate stimulated banking profitability. Interestingly, the monetary policy basis point and rate indexes developed reduced and enhanced banking profitability, respectively. While these results may sound contradictory, they have both theoretical and empirical backing. Thus, basis point increments serve a monetary policy tightening condition which leads to higher loan prices, lower borrowing and declined profitability in the short run. However, in the long run, banks adjusted their loan prices and deposits to reflect basis point changes in their favor, hence the positive effect of average monetary policy rate on banking profitability. Additionally, monetary policy easing which represents decline in monetary policy basis point and rate enhances banking profitability.Practical implicationsThese findings imply bank managers may take advantage of monetary policy easing to maximize profits in the banking sector of Ghana. Also, the monetary policy committee must be mindful of monetary policy tightening through basis point change since upward basis point increments reduce banking profitability.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence for the first time on how different measures of monetary policy (developing indexes from monetary policy basis point and monetary policy rate) affect banking profitability in an emerging economy as Ghana.

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