The financial performance of banks across the globe is of utmost importance to its shareholders, managers, investors, regulators, and the general public. This study therefore investigates the impact of credit risk with focus on non-performing loans on the financial performance of commercial banks in Ghana. Return on asset and economic value-added are used as measures of financial performance. Internal bank factors such as the age and size of the bank are also considered. Macroeconomic factors such as gross domestic product, inflation, and monetary policy rate are included in the analysis. Panel data spanning the period 2013 to 2018 on 15 commercial banks in Ghana is used for the analysis. The results from the random effect estimation technique show that non-performing loans have a negative impact on both measures of financial performance. Also, monetary policy rate has a negative impact on both measures of financial performance, albeit insignificant for economic value-added measure. It is further revealed that the size of bank, age of bank, and gross domestic product have a significant positive effect on both measures of financial performance although significant for return on asset. Based on the negative relationship between non-performing loans and financial performance, it is suggested that commercial banks should adopt stringent credit risk management policies, which should also be updated regularly to guide actions and processes to granting of loans and monitoring credit risk. Furthermore, it is suggested that the value of depreciable assets pledged as collaterals to the banks should be reviewed frequently (probably annually) to reflect a decline in their value. The novelty of the present study pertains to the use of economic value-added as a financial performance measure, which previous studies have virtually ignored in the analysis of credit risk and financial performance nexus.

This paper investigated the threshold effect of financial inclusion on poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using an annual dataset spanning 2010 to 2017, the Hansen’s estimation and Differenced generalized method of moments (GMM) methods were used to estimate the threshold level of financial inclusion that will reduce poverty and factors that influence financial inclusion respectively. The results showed that beyond a threshold level of 0.365, financial inclusion would lead to poverty reduction with money supply being positively significant towards poverty reduction in SSA. The results further indicated that domestic credit to the private sector positively affects financial inclusion. Development partners and governments in the sub-region should therefore implement policies that are aimed at providing an enabling environment for financial institutions to provide financial services that are readily available and affordable to the public in order to benefit from the desired poverty reduction effect of financial inclusion.

The paper investigates the long run dynamics of money supply, budget deficit and inflation in Ghana. It also tests the validity of the classical, monetary and fiscal theories of price level within the vector error correction framework. Using quarterly data from 1999Q1 to 2019Q4, the paper employs Granger causality test and the vector error correction model (VECM) for the analysis. The results from the VECM show that budget deficit has a significant positive effect on inflation while money supply negatively affect it. By contrast, inflation exerts a positive and negative effect on budget deficit and money supply, respectively. The results from the impulse response function also indicate that inflation responds more positively to budget deficit shocks. However, it tends to respond negatively to money supply (M2) shocks. Also, budget deficit responds positively (negatively) to inflation (money supply [M2]) shocks. Furthermore, money supply responds positively (negatively) to budget deficit (inflation) shocks. Based on the weak exogeneity test, the result favours the fiscal theory of the price level in explaining the nexus between money supply, budget deficit and inflation in Ghana. A corollary of our results is that a reduction in government expenditure coupled with restrictive bureaucratic nature of government officials have the tendency of ensuring favourable and stable inflation in Ghana.

Developing countries, of which Ghana is no exception have actively engaged in trade openness after independence, yet, their economic growth remains low and this calls for urgent attention to address the situation. This study therefore examines the impact of trade openness on economic growth of Ghana for the period 1984–2018 taken into consideration the role quality of institutions play. The results from the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) reveal that, both trade openness and quality of institutions exert a significant positive impact on economic growth in both the long and short run. However, the interaction of trade openness and quality of institutions is shown to have insignificant impact on economic growth in both periods. The results further indicate that exchange rate has a significant positive (significant negative) impact on economic growth in the long run (short run). Based on the findings, the study concludes that, institutional quality has no influence on the impact of trade openness on economic growth in the Ghanaian context. Policy implications aimed at ensuring sustained economic growth have been put forward for the discourse of stakeholders.

The paper empirically examines the extent to which different forms of capital flows (foreign direct investment [FDI], remittances, foreign aid and external debt) affect the impact of trade (exports) on economic growth in Africa. We do this with the aid of an augmented endogenous growth model which we estimate by dynamic system GMM technique with endogeneity-expunging efficiency. First, we find that whilst the direct impact of trade (exports) has been crucial in driving economic growth in Africa in both the short- and long-run, capital flows (FDI, remittances, foreign aid and external debt) do not. Second, our results clearly show that, in both the short- and long-run, inflows of FDI and remittances serve as important channels through which trade (exports) has its largest impact on economic growth while inflows of foreign aid and external debt do not. Following these outcomes, we conclude that policies aimed at attracting FDI and remittances to African countries are what policy reforms should target. Further, our findings suggest that moderating the inflow of external debt and foreign aid could be beneficial to the effect of trade (exports) on economic growth.