Outward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from emerging economies in recent years has experienced rapid growth, especially from the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) economies. This has gained much attention from international business researchers. The present study assessed the motivations for the outward FDI from emerging economies to advanced economies based on literature review. The paper revealed that market seeking, natural resource seeking, strategic asset seeking, efficiency seeking, and home government support motivate firms from emerging economies to invest in advanced economies. However, efficiency seeking least motivates China’s outward FDI due to its low labour cost. The study also made an evaluation of the existing theories of FDI to determine whether they adequately explain such investments. Based on the evaluation, the OLI Paradigm and the ResourceBased View do not adequately provide a plausible explanation for such investments. However, emerging economies outward FDI to advanced economies seemed to be adequately explained by the Institutional Theory.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of financial intermediation functions of banks on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs data from 11 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1970–2016. Using broad money supply, bank credit to the private sector and bank deposits as financial intermediation measures, the authors apply the random effects (RE) technique based on the recommendation of the Breusch–Pagan test.FindingsThe results show that except for bank deposits, broad money supply and bank credit to the private sector significantly influence economic growth. While broad money has a negative relationship with growth, bank credit to the private sector and bank deposits are positively correlated with economic growth.Originality/valueThe relationship between financial intermediation and economic growth remains unsettled, as results vary across countries. Besides, in developing countries' perspective, extant studies are largely focused on individual countries to investigate the financial intermediation-growth nexus. In this study, the authors take a different direction by employing a panel approach and thus adding to the few cross-country studies on the subject matter. Also, unlike other studies that have focused on a single indicator of financial intermediation, this study uses three indicators of financial intermediation which broadly reflect the intermediation functions of banks.

Domestic savings are the primary source of financing for domestic investments, hence, they play an essential role in a country's economic growth. Therefore, understanding the determinants of domestic savings is critical for policy formulation.This study investigates the impact of financial sector stability on gross domestic savings in Ghana over the period 1970-2017. Applying the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) technique, the findings show that financial sector stability exerts a positive significant effect on gross domestic savings. Broad money supply also influences savings positively although the effect is insignificant. Also, while inflation positively and significantly impacts savings, economic growth reduces domestic savings in Ghana. The study presents some policy implications.