Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Finance – Ghana'

Analysts have foiled that concentration of portfolio weights affects portfolio risk. This is a unique feature in small markets whore they tend to be concentrated in few stocks and the Charm Sunk Exchange (GSE ) falls in that category. As a result portfolios based on the Ghana All Share index are highly concentrated. The risk in a portfolio is mainly attributed to Covariance and weighting structure. Enough cannot be done about the covariance structure but the weighting structure can be controlled since it depends mainly on investment choices. The weighting structure determines the degree of concentration of a portfolio. The term concentration refers to the extent to which portfolio weights skew away from equally weighted distribution of portfolio weights. As at September 2009, the Ghana All Share index has about five (5) of the total of thirty-five (3.5) in the index accounting for about 82.25% of the index weight. Concentration can be measured using the Herfindahl-Hirsclanan index (HHI) or Richard Roll measure (RRC). Diversification is (nmfirned with generation of returns from different sources. The iraditional method of measuring diversification has fallen short of vital, is usually expected hence the introduction of the new measure, portfolio diversification index or PDT. Liquidity measures the effect the quantity of stocks traded has on the market price of stocks. Liquidity varies from time to time; hence its importance as a source of risk for investors. The primary of fjective of this protect is to determine the significance of concentration in portiailio risk, particularly from the Ghanaian perspective. Furthermore, we will pleasing diversification ming the new measure and finally eml withshort review on liquidity in stock markets.

This dissertation makes use of theoretical frameworks drawn from development theory, ecofeminism, climate science, environmental and distributive justice, and human rights to provide gender analysis of climate policy, including climate finance.The problem addressed is that climate impacts are exacerbating food insecurity that is women's responsibility in the global South. First, I use literature in climate science to detail the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Africa and show how this exacerbates women's poverty that is driven already by persistent socioeconomic inequalities and gender bias. I conclude that women as food producers are especially vulnerable to climate impacts on food security. Next, I assess international climate policy through gender analysis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) against other United Nations (UN) gender policies, followed by gender assessment of Ghanaian climate policy. I conclude that both international and Ghanaian policy fail adequately to address gender and women's needs, despite making advances on gender-inclusion and gender-sensitivity since the turn of the century. I then present a case study in climate finance by evaluating the capacity of an Adaptation Fund Project (AFP) in northeast Ghana to meet women farmers' needs. I gather data from Project implementers and intended beneficiaries, i.e. women in village communities, using interviews and focus group discussions. I conclude that the Project is not successful in engaging women and identify reasons for this failure, including slow distribution of funds to implementers, petty corruption, and community gender biases. In the final chapter, I summarize my findings and make recommendations for policy interventions better to meet women's climate adaptation needs in order to maintain food security and avert the humanitarian crises in hunger that are already well underway in Africa.

This thesis provides a critical evaluation of the inter-relationship between finance and other key factors and SME development. However, the study places much emphasis on issues relating finance and SME development since studies have shown that financial constraint is the major factor affecting SME entrepreneurs in Ghana. Issues of finance and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries have dominated the research agenda at various policy levels. However, very little empirical analysis, that is, hypothesis testing, has been carried out to ascertain the relationship between finance and enterprise performance. Although a few studies have attempted to examine this relationship, there remain large gaps in our knowledge concerning the relationship between finance and SME development. This thesis aims to fill these gaps in our knowledge. The objective of the study is to provide a better understanding of the relationship between finance and other key factors such as exports, education, inter-fiem linkages and small and medium enterprise development in Ghana. It will conduct hypothesis testing on key relationships on the financial structure of small and medium enterprises in Ghana and also ascertain how firms differ in their demand for internal and external sources of finance. The study will also investigate the determinants of growth and SME entrepreneur's access to finance. The analysis is based on firm level data gathered in 1999 from 208 small and medium enterprises located within a 50 Kilometre geographical radius of five principal cities in Ghana. The Study employed a combination of analytical techniques, namely, tile 'Basic Detailed Characteristics' approach and regression analysis (Two Stage Least Squares and Logistic Regression Analysis). This allowed for an exhaustive analysis of the SME sector and its potential for income, employment, and economic growth. The empirical issues revealed by the analysis were: First, results from the regression equation on the determininants of firm growth confirmed the principal hypothesis of the thesis, that is, access to finance exerts a significantly positive effect on growth. This indicates the need to improve the availability of credit to SMEs to enable*the sector realise its potential. Another major finding is, increases in firm size exert a negative and statistically significant effect on growth (when defined as growth in sales). However, when growth is defined as value added, increases in firm size have a positive and statistically significant effect on growth. This has very useful implications for policy, that is, support programmes should be equally targeted towards small and medium enterprises. Another major finding is, exporting firms perform better than non-exporting firms. This re-emphasizes the need for policies to support upgrading of SME products to meet acceptable standards and compete internationally. Higher levels of education of SME entrepreneurs also exert a statistically significant effect on growth. There is therefore the need to educate entrepreneurs especially on production techniques and managerial abilities. The second regression equation investigated the determinants of access to finance and found that frill size exerts a significantly positive effect on access to finance. This implies small firms are often marginalized in the allocation of credit, hence there is the need to target more credit to the small-scale sector. Secondly, older firms tend to have better access to finance than newly established firms. An export equation was also estimated and very interesting findings were revealed. First, foreign owned firms are more likely to export than locally owned enterprises. Educated entrepreneurs are more likely to export than tile less educated ones. Also, males are more likely export than their female counterparts. Finally, medium-sized firms are more likely to export than small-scale enterprises.

Ghanaian microfinance banks (MFB) experience a high collapse rate, with more than 100 MFBs failing between 2015 and 2016. Grounded on Porter's competitive strategy theory, the purpose of this case study was to explore successful strategies used by selected participants to achieve business sustainability. Fourteen participants from 6 successful MFBs in the Greater Accra Region, including managers and MFB owners with more than 5 years of professional and industry experience, participated in semistructured interviews. Observations and company documents served as a secondary source of data collection. Through thematic analysis, 5 themes emerged: cash and liquidity management, capacity building, monitoring, compliance, and corporate governance. MFB owners and leaders will benefit from the findings of the study by gaining insights on how to implement strategies, which lead to business sustainability. Implications for positive social change include the potential for an improved standard of living through the financial resources provided by MFBs to entrepreneurs for business startups, which could lead to reducing unemployment and poverty within the working class population of Ghana.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Microinsurance services have been operating in Ghana for the last decade, but the question whether they have enhanced the welfare of low-income households, mostly in the informal sector, is largely unresearched. In particular the study asks: does microinsurance improve the welfare of households through asset retention, consumption smoothing and inequality reduction? This question has been examined through the use of the 2010 FINSCOPE survey which contains in-depth information on 3 642 households across the rural and urban settings of the country. In order to control for selection bias and endogeneity bias, Heckman sample selection, instrumental variable and treatment effect models were employed for the evaluation. The results of the assessment have been compiled into four empirical essays. The first essay investigates the impact of microinsurance on household asset accumulation. The findings show that microinsurance has a positive welfare impact in terms of household asset accumulation. This suggests that microinsurance prevents asset pawning and liquidation of essential household assets at ‘give away’ prices. By absorbing the risk of low-income households, insurance equips them to cope effectively with risk, empowers them to escape poverty and sustains the welfare gains achieved. The second essay examines the impact of microinsurance on consumption smoothing. It delves into the capacity of microinsurance to enable households to avoid costly risk-coping methods which are detrimental to health and well-being. The results reveal that insured households are less likely to reduce the daily intake of meals, which is an indication that microinsurance is a better option for managing consumption smoothing among low-income households. The third essay investigates the effect of microinsurance on households’ asset inequality. The findings indicate that the asset inequality of insured households is less than that of uninsured households. Insured female-headed households have much lower asset inequality than male-headed households, but uninsured female-headed households are worse off than both uninsured and insured male-headed households. The regional trend reveals that developmental gaps impede the capacity of microinsurance to bridge the asset inequality gap. The fourth essay asks: Does microcredit improve the well-being of low-income households in the absence of microinsurance? The findings show a weak influence of microcredit on household welfare. However households using microcredit in combination with microinsurance derive significant gains in terms of welfare improvement. Microcredit may be good, but its real benefits to the poor is best realised if the poverty trapping risks are covered with microinsurance. To this extent, combining microcredit with microinsurance will empower the poor to make a sustainable exit from poverty. The findings of this thesis have pertinent policy implications for the government, the development community and stakeholders in the insurance industry. Microinsurance is a good instrument for improving the welfare of households and thus this research recommends its integration into the poverty reduction strategy of Ghana and a greater insurance inclusion for the lower end of the market.

Although it remains small compared with advanced economies, in Ghana there is a growing residential stock which constitutes the basis of an emergent real estate investment market. Much of the recently constructed stock is income-producing rented accommodation, and falls in the formal sector of the market - where sale and leasing transactions are systematically documented in the records of the Ghana Land Valuation Board. The research presented in this thesis makes several contributions to knowledge and understanding of residential real estate markets in Ghana. First, and most fundamentally, it demonstrates that it is feasible to construct technically robust indicators of residential market performance from the records held by state agencies, through the construction of hedonic models which suggest processes of price determination are consistent with those found in other countries. Time series produced from these models, running from 1992 to 2007, document for the first time trends in capital values, rental values and investment returns for a substantial part of the Ghanaian residential market. This thesis also explores practical applications of the newly created residential performance indices. The current research examines the differentials in price determination and performance across the main submarkets of the Accra-Tema conurbation, the dynamics of change in market prices over time against economic and financial indicators, and the returns achieved on residential investment compared with Ghanaian equities and Treasury Bills. The results demonstrate that the residential market has seen strong rental and capital appreciation over the past fifteen years, yielding investment returns ahead of the high rate of general inflation. Compared with other Ghanaian asset classes, residential real estate shows both a rate of return and a level of risk which sit between those on fixed income and equities investments, in line with fundamental theory and experience in other countries. As in other countries, residential real estate returns show low correlations with those on equity and fixed income investments, suggesting a strong case for real estate in a multi-asset portfolio. Beyond the Ghanaian market, this thesis suggests the process of constructing residential indices from records held by state land registration and taxation authority may be replicable in other African countries where there are similar systems of land administration and management, provided that the task of data assembly and validation is feasible.

Firms playa pivotal role in every economy. Therefore their financial standing should be of great concern to policy-makers, as this may directly affect the overall performance of the economy. Corporate finance literature however suggests that market imperfections resulting from conflicts of interest and informational asymmetries, between different economic agents, limit firms in their ability to finance investment projects. Yet, the extent to which firms are limited depends greatly on their size, ownership, exporting status, risk level and even location. In fact, many studies believe that unless by some policy directives pertaining to a particular country, foreign, exporting, large, less risky and firms in developed regions will under normal circumstances be less financially constrained than their counterparts, domestic, non-exporting, small, more risky and firms in undeveloped regions respectively. For domestic firms, some evidence exists that their financial constraints can be alleviated by the entrance of foreign firms. In this thesis, we try and incorporate as many of these determinants as possible bearing in mind data availability. As a result, in the first part of this study, we address the issue of financial constraints of foreign and domestic firms as well as crowding out effects of domestic firms in Ghana. To the best of our knowledge, no study has attempted to address this particular issue on Ghana. We then move a step higher in the second part of our study by considering this same topic in China but then looking at it using firms with different degrees of foreign ownership. Not only do we do this, but we also carry out regional analysis in this respect. All these are made possible by the quality of dataset that we use in our analyses. Again, to the best of our knowledge, no study has addressed this issue on China in this manner. In the last part of our study, we take a different tum altogether and examine mainly the sensitivities of both long-term debt and short-term debt to cash flow and collateral respectively for globally-engaged firms (foreign-owned and exporting firms) as well as firms in the coastal and non-coastal regions of China. We find very interesting results from these analyses. With regards to evidence on firm financial constraints in Ghana, we find that domestic firms are more financially constrained than foreign firms and that foreign firms' presence has no impact on domestic firms in Ghana. For the results on China, while we find no difference between the financial constraints of purely domestic firms and joint ventures, we find that wholly-foreign owned firms are less financially constrained than purely domestic firms. We however find that the presence of foreign firms help alleviate purely domestic firms from their financial constraints. For the regional analysis, estimates based on this suggest firms in the coastal region are less financially constrained than firms in the non-coastal region. Regarding the sensitivities of both short-term debt and long-term debt to cash flow and collateral, whilst we find that highly globally engaged firms have a higher sensitivity of long-term debt to cash flow than non-globally engaged firms, we find that globally engaged firms' short-term debt have a lower sensitivity to collateral than non-globally engaged firms. As for the regional analysis, our result show that both the short-term debt and long-term debts of firms in the coastal region have a higher sensitivity to collateral and cash flow respectively than the sensitivities of short-term debt and long-term debt to cash flow and collateral of firms in the non-coastal region.

The aim of this thesis is to study customer order flow and its impact on a small open emerging economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Customer order flow, as a key concept in the microstructure approach to exchange rate, deals with signed transaction volumes between market-makers and their customers. The study specifically attempts to explore what the data tells us about the role of customer order flow in the market for local currency (Ghanaian CEDI) using the standard analytical framework of FX microstructure literature. The study also examines short-run exchange rate dynamics in an emerging market based on the recent microstructure framework of foreign exchange markets where the main explanatory variable is the order flow. First, the study modifies the model to take account of a unique feature of the majority of emerging markets, namely the existence of a parallel market for FX. Secondly, it uses a unique proprietary database covering almost the complete Ghanaian market, and for a long time span compared to previous studies, which uses data for a single market-maker and for a short period of time. The study confirms contemporaneous relationship (between flows and exchange rate) suggested by previous literature (Evans and Lyons 2002a) but we also observe a lagged interaction between order flow and exchange rates. These lagged effects are due to the delays in the price transmission which are associated with inefficiencies. Additionally, the study confirms the connection between the price impact of the order flow and the degree of liquidity in the FX market. Furthermore, our findings corroborate the fact that in Ghana, banks provide liquidity to their customers in the short-run whiles the central bank acts a liquidity provider in the long-run. Finally, our results confirm that there exists a strong relationship between order flow, commodity prices and macroeconomic fundamentals in an emerging economy.

Public expenditure control is vital in countries because it is a key instrument for ensuring effective government strategic planning and policy priorities. In many countries, public expenditure control has been inadequately implemented because of weak accounting systems, a weak cash management system and a weak flow of information, among others, despite public finance management reforms implemented in developing countries. Public expenditure management has been a concern in Ghana's public service because of weak budget formulation, weak monitoring and evaluation, and an ineffective flow of information between the ministry of finance (MOF) and the key public institutions. The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) has been introduced in Ghana's public service but it has been faced with challenges after the initial stage of implementation of the reforms. This study sought to examine why public finance management reforms appears to have failed to control public expenditure in Ghana, by investigating the ministry of finance's (MOF) role in implementing the MTEF. The study employs a qualitative method using interviews with officials from the MOF to examine the role of the MOF in implementing the MTEF. The key themes that the researcher sought to test through the research as potential factors behind poor expenditure control included the coordination amongst other government institutions, weak planning and forecasting, monitoring and evaluation capacity, information management systems and cash management systems, the political environment and the commitment control. The findings revealed that, despite the importance of political environment and the commitment control, planning and forecasting, the monitoring and evaluation capacity, information management system and the cash management and the coordination management government institutions in implementing the MTEF by the MOF, the new public management framework is not well implemented as it should be. The findings also revealed that in implementing the MTEF by the MOF, coordination among other government institutions such as the MOF and the NDPC has been improved and overcoming the shortcoming of implementing the public finance management reform in Ghana.

This thesis has twofold objectives. The first is to develop a framework based on the existing theory and method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for measuring performance of financial firms that have the dual goals of profit maximisation and Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSRs). The second is to examine the impact of banking regulatory reforms including bank ownership, specialisation, and capitalisation types on the average efficiency and frontier differences of banking subgroups. The objectives are achieved using the standard DEA, the metafrontier analysis and the global frontier differences (GFD). DEA can handle multidimensional inputs and outputs without specifying specific functional forms. CSR is conceptually justified and modelled as an additional output into the banking intermediation approach. Two DEA models, one with CSR and another without CSR are measured and compared. Parametric and nonparametric tests and regressions are utilised to support, empirically, the relevance of CSR in bank performance evaluation. Do foreign banks outperform private-domestic and state banks? Should banks diversify their products or focus in narrow range of products and services? Are listed banks more efficient than non-listed banks? The second part of the thesis contributes to the extant literature by answering these questions using the metafrontier analysis and the GFD to provide new evidence on the effect that the entry of foreign and private-domestic banks, universal banking and listing of banks on the stock market, have on bank performance. Banks are segmented into groups based on their bank-specific attributes and their average efficiencies and bestpractice differences compared. Relevant policy recommendations are drawn from the analysis for both the banking regulator and bank management. The final methodological contribution extends the GFD by defining a further decomposition of the global frontier shift, into components that indicate whether an observation is situated in a more or less favourable location in the production possibility set. Consequently, a four-factor “Newly-decomposed Malmquist productivity change index” is proposed. The index and its decompositions have potentially interesting policy implications, which are illustrated using the empirical data on Ghanaian banks. The index is in the spirit of the standard Malmquist index but the intuition is that some components can be used to draw conclusions about productivity changes for a whole population of firms whilst others determine whether individual firms are in favourable locations and/or moving towards locations that are more favourable over time. More importantly, arguably, a listed, universal or foreign bank can be located in a favourable position and move towards location that is more favourable by virtue of its bank-specific attributes or by contributing more towards CSR. These factors are explored and policy measures prescribed in the final contribution of the thesis.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is made of stand-alone essays on the capital structure and financing of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana and South Africa. Chapter Two reviews issues on SME development in Ghana and South Africa. Chapter Three compares the capital structures of large, quoted firms and SMEs in Ghana. The results show that quoted firms exhibit higher debt ratios than those of SMEs. The results suggest that age, size, asset structure, and profitability of the firm affect the capital structures of quoted firms and SMEs. For the SME, it is evident that level of education and gender of the entrepreneur, industry, and location of the firm are also important in explaining their capital structure. Chapter Four examines the determinants of bank financing of SMEs in Ghana. The results reveal that bank financing accounts for less than a quarter of SMEs’ debt financing, with short-term bank credit representing the greater proportion of bank finance. The results show that age, size, asset tangibility, and growth of the firm have positive associations with long-term bank debt, while profitability is negatively related to long-term bank debt. The short-term debt indicates a positive relationship with size, but negative relationships with profitability, and growth. Chapter Four also investigates the awareness and use of various financing schemes available to the Ghanaian SME sector. The results reveal low awareness and usage levels of these financing initiatives. Chapter Five explores the determinants of Ghanaian small and medium sized non-traditional exporters’ (NTEs) choice of formal/informal finance. The results show that NTEs depend on formal financing sources with bank finance representing the greater percentage of NTEs’ financing. The results suggest that, newer firms depend more on formal finance and less on informal finance. The results show positive relationships between formal finance and size, and growth of the firm. Chapter Six assesses how corporate governance affects the performance of SMEs in Ghana and what the implications are for financing opportunities. The results reveal that better corporate governance structures lead to better performance of SMEs. The paper concludes that the adoption of good corporate governance structures could lead to better management decisions and enable SMEs to attract financing resources. Chapter Seven examines the relationship between agency factors and the capital structure of quoted SMEs in South Africa. The results indicate that firms with one institutional blockholder are able to monitor the opportunistic behaviour of management more effectively than those with more than one institutional blockholders. Chapter Eight looks at the financial market and financing choice of SMEs and large firms in South Africa. The results indicate that developments in the financial market affect both longterm debt/equity and short-term debt/equity decisions of large firms. However, for SMEs, it is the long-term debt/equity decision that is affected by the financial market. The final essay examines the effect of debt policy on the performance of SMEs in Ghana and South Africa. The results indicate that long-term debt and total debt ratios negatively affect performance of SMEs. These findings have important implications for policy-makers, entrepreneurs and managers of SMEs.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis bestaan uit losstaande essays oor die kapitaalstruktuur en finansiering van kleinen middelgrootte-ondernemings (KMO's) in Ghana en Suid-Afrika. Hoofstuk Twee kyk na kwessies oor KMO-ontwikkeling in Ghana en Suid-Afrika. Hoofstuk Drie vergelyk die kapitaalstrukture van groot genoteerde maatskappye en KMO's in Ghana. Die resultate dui daarop dat genoteerde maatskappye groter skuldverhoudings as KMO's toon. Hierdie resultate wys ook dat ouderdom, grootte, batestruktuur en die winsgewendheid van die maatskappy die kapitaalstruktuur van genoteerde maatskappye en KMO's beïnvloed. Dit is vir die KMO voor die hand liggend dat die opvoedingsvlak en geslag van die entrepreneur, die bedryf en die ligging van die maatskappy ook belangrik is om die kapitaalstruktuur daarvan te verduidelik. Hoofstuk Vier ondersoek die bepalende faktore vir bankfinansiering vir KMO's in Ghana. Die resultate toon aan dat bankfinansiering rekenskap gee van minder as 'n kwart van die KMO se skuldfinansiering en dat korttermynbankkrediet die grootste gedeelte van die bankfinansiering verteenwoordig. Die resultate toon aan dat ouderdom, grootte, die tasbaarheid van bates en maatskappygroei op 'n positiewe verwantskap met langtermynskuld dui, terwyl winsgewendheid 'n negatiewe verband met langtermynbankskuld het. Die korttermynskuld toon 'n positiewe verwantskap met grootte maar 'n negatiewe verwantskap met winsgewendheid en groei aan. Hoofstuk Vier ondersoek ook die bewustheid en gebruik van verskeie finansieringskemas wat aan die Ghanese KMO-sektor beskikbaar is. Die resultate bring 'n lae bewustheid en gebruiksvlakke van hierdie finansieringsinisiatiewe aan die lig. Hoostuk Vyf verken die bepalende faktore van die Ghanese klein- en middelgrootte nie-tradisionele uitvoerders (NTU's) se keuse van formele/informele finansiering. Die resultate toon aan dat NTU's op formele finansieringsbronne staat maak en dat bankfinansiering die grootste persentasie van die NTU's se finansiering uitmaak. Uit die resultate kan afgelei word dat nuwer maatskappye meer op formele finansiering staat maak en minder op informele finansiering. Die resultate dui op 'n positiewe verwantskap tussen formele finansiering en grootte, en die groei van die maatskappy. Hoofstuk Ses evalueer die invloed van korporatiewe bestuur op die prestasie van KMO's in Ghana en watter implikasies dit vir finansieringsgeleenthede inhou. Die resultate toon aan dat beter korporatiewe finansieringstrukture by KMO's tot beter prestasie lei. Hierdie essay kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die aanvaarding van goeie korporatiewe bestuurstrukture tot beter bestuursbesluite kan lei en KMO's in staat kan stel om finansieringsbronne te lok. Hoofstuk Sewe ondersoek die verwantskap tussen agentskapfaktorering en die kapitaalstruktuur van genoteerde KMO's in Suid-Afrika. Die resultate dui daarop dat maatskappye met een institusionele blokhouer die opportunistiese gedrag van bestuur meer doeltreffend kan monitor as dié met meer as een institusionele blokhouer. Hoofstuk Agt kyk na die keuses wat KMO's en groot maatskappye in Suid-Afrika ten opsigte van finansiële markte en finansiering maak. Resultate toon aan dat ontwikkelings in die finansiële mark besluite oor die langtermynskuld/aandelekapitaal sowel as die korttermynskuld/aandelekapitaal van groot maatskappye beïnvloed. By KMO's is dit egter besluite oor langtermynskuld/aandelekapitaal wat deur die finansiële mark beïnvloed word. Die laaste essay ondersoek die uitwerking van skuldbeleid op die prestasie van KMO's in Ghana en Suid-Afrika. Die resultate toon aan dat langtermynskuld en totale skuldverhoudings die prestasie van KMO's negatief beïnvloed. Hierdie bevindinge het belangrike implikasies vir beleidmakers, entrepreneurs en die bestuurders van KMO's.

Agriculture revenue contributions to Ghana's gross domestic product have declined because of limited farm funding, which has constrained some smallholder rice farmers access credit to acquire necessary inputs, and to secure a stable market for their harvests. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore successful strategies some smallholder rice farmers in the Afadzato South District of Ghana used in obtaining farm funding. Data collection included semistructured, face-to-face interviews with 9 smallholder rice farmers who successfully obtained farm funding. Previous research, reports, and policies of the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture served as additional data collection sources. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and resulted in three major themes: the smallholder farmer's strategy of belonging to cooperative association membership, the smallholder farmer's strategy for satisfying lender collateral requirements, and smallholder farmer's strategies for developing a repayment rating history. The implications for positive social change include the potential to guide the smallholder farmers to successful strategies to access farm funding for their farming activities and increase their farm sizes. The increase in farm sizes may result in more rice production that can help mitigate hunger and reduce poverty in the Afadzato South District of Ghana.

Football clubs have multiple stakeholders sometimes with different and conflicting objectives. If a club concentrates solely on achieving sporting success at the expense of its financial objectives, it risks jeopardizing its long-term stability, which may affect the sporting integrity of the league as a whole. The behaviour of one club potentially has externality implications for other stakeholders which cannot always be internalised. There is therefore the need for regulation of the pre-emptive type to avert such negative consequences for clubs. FIFA has requested all member associations to implement club licensing to improve upon professionalism in management and to ensure long-term stability of club football. This thesis picks up on this theme to review the financial regulatory system in Ghana, obtain lessons from other jurisdictions and develop an incentive-based context-specific Football Financial Clearinghouse framework that is applicable in Ghana. The thesis employs a mixed-method research approach to evaluate the financial disclosure, position and performance of professional football clubs in Ghana, utilising critical reviews, interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires to answer specific research questions. The empirical analysis in this thesis shows that financial licensing and monitoring needs to be complemented by the provision of incentives and support services to clubs to achieve optimal regulatory compliance. The key incentive in the specific case of Ghana is to ensure regulated access to credit. This thesis makes four significant contributions to knowledge by showing that: Ghanaian football clubs are in a difficult financial situation; there is an appetite for change amongst Ghanaian football’s stakeholders for a new financial regulatory framework; the existing financial regulatory frameworks, especially in Europe, are not applicable in the Ghanaian context as they were made for a different jurisdiction; and that the FFC framework would be an appropriate context-specific framework to deal with the financial regulation of Ghanaian football clubs.

High interest rates, many mortgage defaults, and availability of capital are challenges for microbusiness owners. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the strategies used by Ghana's microbusiness owners to manage microloans for sustainable businesses in Cape Coast, Ghana. Putnam's social capital theory was the conceptual framework for the study. A purposive and snowball sample of 10 participants completed semistructured interviews and described their perceptions and experiences of the phenomena. Data were analyzed using Moustakas' modified van Kaam method to catalog, group, and code information into themes. The study findings indicated there are high-interest rates and many mortgage defaults in the microfinance industry, and operating capital for microbusiness owners is insufficient. Results indicated savings must yield interest, microborrowers must have a business plan, microbusiness owners must seek professional advice where needed, and government must offer savers protection against a Microfinance Institution financial crunch. Engaging these issues could help microbusiness owners improve microloan management for sustainable enterprises. Participants said interest from savings could increase capital. They agreed that lower interest rates could prevent mortgage defaults. MFIs should organize entrepreneurial orientation workshops to help business owner's structure better financial plans and management strategies that could contribute to improving the socioeconomic lives of microborrowers. Implications for positive social change include the growth of microbusinesses, reduced mortgage defaults, and increased employment and tax revenues.

Small enterprises are a major source of livelihood for most people in the developing world. Their ability to grow is however, undermined by credit constraints. This has often been attributed to the lack of registered property ownership which is argued to make property insecure and unacceptable to lenders. Though several studies have been conducted on the relationship between property registration and credit access, the focus is usually on the demand side mainly involving households and the agricultural sector. Furthermore, no studies have compared the developed and developing countries. Finally, the exact nature of , the credit constraint amongst businesses in countries such as Ghana for instance is not known. This research therefore, set out to conduct a demand-side study into the nature of the credit constraint amongst small businesses in Ghana and a supply-side investigation of the influence of registration on small businesses access to credit. The multi methodology was deemed most suitable approach for the investigation of the objectives of the study. The quantitative approach was first used to investigate the objectives. Part of the initial findings was validated through the quantitative approach whilst the other part was validated through the qualitative approach. The results show amongst other things that the existing credit constraint is almost entirely a supply side problem. The supply side study showed that in Ghana, unregistered property is not eligible for use as collateral but this is applicable only to the universal banks (UBs) and not the microfinance institutions (MFIs). That said, the possession of registered property title was not found to influence the loan terms that businesses are offered neither was there evidence that it guarantees access to credit. Even though in England the eligibility of property was not dependent on whether it is registered or not, lenders also did agree that the possession of registered property does not guarantee credit access neither does it influence the credit terms businesses are offered. It was concluded that since majority of small businesses in Ghana seek credit from MFIs, the lack of registered property titles does not constitute a major barrier to credit access. The I main barriers to credit access identified are the poor repayment ability and high risk of default amongst others.

The population of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) in Ghana is projected to increase from 2,400 in 2015 to 4,900 by 2024. HNWIs in Ghana desire to have access to alternative investment instruments to enhance diversification and improve investment returns on their portfolios. Guided by the product-market-grid-model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore diversification strategies some fund managers use to improve returns for HNWIs. Twelve participants from 3 investment firms in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, including CEOs and fund managers with more than 5 years of professional and industry experience, participated in semistructured interviews. Observations and company documents served as secondary sources of data collection. Five themes emerged from the analysis of interview and document data: investment objectives and risk appetite level, product availability, asset allocation, limited knowledge and lack of sophistication, and, performance benchmarking. Findings may be used by fund managers to combine knowledge and innovation in identifying alternative investment options for HNWIs and improving investment returns. HNWIs may use their disposable income from returns to engage in entrepreneurial activities that may create employment opportunities and improve the economic environment in Ghana.

Policy makers believe that there are ghost workers, persons who do not work yet receive salaries, on Ghana's public sector payroll. However, little is known about the factors that create opportunities for ghost workers. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to extend Cressy's conceptualization of the fraud triangle theory to test the applicability of Reinikka and Svennson's graft estimation model by using nonprobability quota sampling to select 85 heads of public agencies for participation in a cross-sectional survey. The research questions focused on the relationship between size of government agency, the estimated number of opportunities for ghost workers, and the dependent variable of occurrence of ghost workers in the public sector in Ghana. Correlational and multiple regression analysis was used to discern the relationship between the independent variables of agency size and opportunities for ghost workers and the dependent variable of number of ghost workers. Results revealed a statistically significant, positive relationship between the number of opportunities for ghost workers and the number of ghost workers. However, there was a negative relationship between the size of government agencies and both the number of opportunities for ghost workers and the number of ghost workers. The implications for social change include recommendations to revise the Financial Administration Act of Ghana by introducing new controls in the payroll administration at the Controller and Accountant General's Department to eliminate ghost workers from the payroll so that public funds can be saved to provide more public services for Ghanaians.

Variations in macroeconomic indicators affect the performance of the stock markets. In Ghana, although the performance of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has been affected by macroeconomic variables from January 2000 to December 2013, the mechanisms of these relationships have not been studied. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between selected macroeconomic variables and their effect on the stock market returns on the Ghana stock market. The research questions addressed whether macroeconomic variables had significant effect on stock market returns in Ghana within the specified period. The target sample was all 36 listed firms on the Ghana stock market. Data were obtained from the Bank of Ghana bulletins, the Ghana Statistical Service website, and the GSE website. Time-series data analysis was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant relationship between stock market returns and inflation rate, exchange rate, interest rate, and money supply. The findings revealed that interest rates and money supply had a significant negative effect on stock market returns; however, exchange rates had a significant positive effect on stock market returns. Moreover, inflation rate did not significantly affect stock market returns in Ghana. The implications for positive social change include improved knowledge about the effects of macroeconomic variables on stock returns that could guide policy makers and household agents to improve investment decisions, thus increasing the net worth of these economic agents.

In recent years, the initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) witnessed some level of undersubscriptions. The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which valuation, pricing, and performance of prior IPOs listed on the GSE contributed to this state of undersubscriptions. The research was informed by the valuation and pricing framework of Roosenboom. The research questions addressed whether IPOs on the GSE were under/overpriced and whether the projected and pre-issue financials were free from forecasting errors and earnings management. A cross-sectional, explanatory research design was employed to examine a dataset of 30 sampled IPOs. The dataset, obtained from IPO prospectuses, trading data, and financial statements, was analyzed using both logistic and multiple regressions. IPO valuation methods, first-day returns (R(1st day)), absolute forecast errors (AFE), and discretionary current accruals (DCA) served as dependent variables and firm characteristics of size, age, profitability, dividends, price-to-value (P/V) ratios, owner-manager, and auditors' reputation served as independent variables. Results revealed that firm characteristics were not significant predictors of the choice of IPO valuation methods, IPOs were underpriced and their R(1st day) were significantly predicted by P/V ratios, the financial projections were over forecasted and their AFE were not predicted by the independent variables, and the pre-IPO financials experienced earnings management and their DCA were significantly explained by the owner-manager variable. This research contributes to positive social change by assisting regulators, investment bankers, corporations, and institutional investors in improving their respective roles in the valuation and pricing of IPOs on the GSE, thus reducing the observed IPO undersubscriptions in the stock market.

The generation of large volumes of solid and liquid wastes in urban and periurban areas of Ghana is a big problem for the people and government of Ghana. It contributes to the outbreak of many diseases in the country such as malaria, diarrhoea and typhoid fever. In managing the situation, a new concept called ecological sanitation (ecosan), which focuses on reuse of waste, has been introduced in the country. The objectives of the thesis were to criticise the environmental sanitation policy 
by analysing its content in relation to policy implementation arrangements, to discuss programmes and projects identified under the policy, to critically examine the implementation of an ecosan project as a way of achieving the goal and objectives by outlining its implementation processes, prospects and challenges, and to make appropriate recommendations. The analysis and discussion of the thesis were based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data, on one hand, were collected on the prospects and challenges that exist in the implementation of ecosan projects from Kumasi metropolis. The secondary data, on the other hand, were from 
books, journals and websites. From the research analysis, it emerged that the policy allows the implementation of many sanitation projects including ecosan. Secondly, stakeholders see ecosanto be a good approach to reduce waste generation in the country. However, the main challenges that exist in promoting the concept are inadequate financial support, unavailability of implementation guidelines and lack of knowledge about concept details. It is therefore argued that financial support, implementation guidelines and awareness-creation activities should be available in the implementation of ecosan in the metropolis. Government, private organisations, companies and individuals should each contribute their quota in the support and processes.

About 70% of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies fail because the strategies employed do not integrate all the critical success elements, leaving SMEs without the needed capital to take advantage of strategic and market opportunities. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the M&A strategies SME owners in Ghana employed to raise capital. Seth's value creation theory was the conceptual framework adopted for this study. The population consisted of 5 SME owners in Ghana who had successfully raised financial resources through inbound M&As within the past 10 years. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and review of corporate annual reports and M&A documents. The data were organized and analyzed using Yin's 5-step data analysis and cross-case synthesis techniques to identify patterns and emergent themes. The 6 themes that emerged from the analysis were value creation, control and autonomy, entrepreneurial quality, leadership, trustworthiness, and effective negotiation. SME owners can integrate entrepreneurial quality and effective negotiations to achieve successful closure of M&A deals. The findings of this study might facilitate SME access to capital for expansion and growth that will contribute to positive social change through job creation and increased youth employment in emerging economies.

La satisfacció és una preocupació crucial pels clients i per les organitzacions, incloent els bancs. L'estudi examina la satisfacció global dels clients dels bancs a Ghana i Espanya. Així s'analitzen aspectes com la relació entre satisfacció global i les dimensions de qualitat dels serveis bancari, així com les pròpies dimensions principals de la qualitat d'aquests serveis. Finalment, les percepcions sobre aquestes dimensions son comparades entre els bancs de Ghana i Espanya. S'han analitzat els clients de 819 bancs de Ghana i Espanya, els resultats van mostrar que els clients espanyols estaven més descontents respecte les dimensions tangibles i empatia metre que els clients de Ghana puntuaven pitjar la dimensió conveniència. En general, els clients de Ghana estaven força més descontents amb els serveis bancaris que els d'Espanya. La fiabilitat, l'empatia i la conveniència son els predictors de satisfacció global en Ghana, mentres que la fiabilitat és la única dimensió que explica la satisfacció global a Espanya.
Satisfaction is a crucial concern for both customers and organisations including banks. The study examines the overall satisfaction of banks’ customers in Ghana and Spain. It also looks at the relationship between overall satisfaction and the quality dimensions of banks’ services in Ghana and Spain. It investigates the main quality dimensions of banks’ services in Ghana and Spain. Finally, the perceptions of Ghana and Spain about the quality dimensions of banks’ services are compared. By analysing 819 banks’ customers in both Ghana and Spain, the results showed that Spain was more dissatisfied with the tangibles and the empathy dimensions than Ghana. In contrast, Ghana was more dissatisfied with the convenience dimension than Spain. In general, customers from Ghana were more dissatisfied with banks’ services than those from Spain. Also whilst reliability, empathy and convenience were the predictors of overall satisfaction in Ghana, only reliability explained overall satisfaction in Spain.

A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, The Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand February 2016
The liberalization of foreign exchange markets occasioned by the widespread acceptance of floating exchange rate systems brought about prevalent acceptance of foreign currency (usually U.S. dollars) in many developing and transition economies. Facing both domestic and foreign imbalances, a number of developing economies have embraced foreign currencies as a store of value (asset substitution), and in some instances as a medium of exchange for domestic transactions (currency substitution). This thesis examines dollarization/currency substitution, its impact on macroeconomic fundamentals, and the challenges it poses for effective formulation and transmission of monetary policy in Ghana. The entire thesis is organised into five empirical essays, each touching on a specific subject within the broad theme of dollarization and economic instability. The first essay explores the macroeconomic determinants of financial dollarization. The evidence establishes that exchange rate depreciation and financial development drive dollarization. Additionally depreciation of the domestic currency increases demand for foreign currencies, while a more developed financial sector tends to curtail dollarization. The second essay models a long-run money demand function for Ghana within the portfolio balance framework. The results indicate that, although foreign interest rates and expected exchange rates (either separately or jointly) are relevant elements in the money demand function, there evidence is more in support of capital mobility and not currency substitution. The third essay provides evidence on how financial dollarization affects the volatility of nominal and real Ghana cedi/U.S. dollar exchange rates. The study showed that the effect of financial dollarization on nominal exchange rate volatility in Ghana is positive, thus, as demand for U.S. dollars becomes more extensive, the cedi/dollar exchange rate becomes more volatile and unstable. The fourth essay investigates the role of dollarization in the dynamics of inflation and inflation uncertainty. Contrary to common logic, the results indicate that dollarization has not played a significant role in the dynamics of inflation volatility. The study posits that, although there is no significant impact of dollarization on inflation volatility, inflation targeting affects the inflation-inflation uncertainty relationship in Ghana. The last essay considers the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission in Ghana and examines whether the degree of dollarization hinders or facilitates that process by accounting for the role of the inflation targeting. The results show that credit and exchange rate channels dominate the transmission mechanism, with the former assuming a more significant role in the inflation targeting period. Moreover, the contribution of dollarization has diminished in the post-inflation targeting era, suggesting that monetary authorities have paid more attention to the effects of dollarization in the current monetary regime. A number of policy prescriptions arising from the thesis are presented to guide domestic authorities in smoothing the path of the instability in the economy.
MB2016

MSc (Statistics)
Department of Statistics
Over the years researchers have been modeling inflation rate in Ghana using linear models such as Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) and Moving Average (MA). Empirical research however, has shown that financial data, such as inflation rate, does not follow linear patterns. This study seeks to model and forecast inflation in Ghana using nonlinear models and to establish the existence of nonlinear patterns in the monthly rates of inflation between the period January 1981 to August 2016 as obtained from Ghana Statistical Service. Nonlinearity tests were conducted using Keenan and Tsay tests, and based on the results, we rejected the null hypothesis of linearity of monthly rates of inflation. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) was performed to test for the presence of stationarity. The test rejected the null Hypothesis of unit root at 5% significant level, and hence we can conclude that the rate of inflation was stationary over the period under consideration. The data were transformed by taking the logarithms to follow nornal distribution, which is a desirable characteristic feature in most time series. Monthly rates of inflation were modeled using threshold models and their fitness and forecasting performance were compared with Autoregressive (AR ) models. Two Threshold models: Self-Exciting Threshold Autoregressive (SETAR) and Logistic Smooth Threshold Autoregressive (LSTAR) models, and two linear models: AR(1) and AR(2), were employed and fitted to the data. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) were used to assess each of the fitted models such that the model with the minimum value of AIC and BIC, was judged the best model. Additionally, the fitted models were compared according to their forecasting performance using a criterion called mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The model with the minimum MAPE emerged as the best forecast model and then the model was used to forecast monthly inflation rates for the year 2017. The rationale for choosing this type of model is contingent on the behaviour of the time-series data. Also with the history of inflation modeling and forecasting, nonlinear models have proven to perform better than linear models. The study found that the SETAR and LSTAR models fit the data best. The simple AR models however, out-performed the nonlinear models in terms of forecasting. Lastly, looking at the upward trend of the out-sample forecasts, it can be predicted that Ghana would experience double digit inflation in 2017. This would have several impacts on many aspects of the economy and could erode the economic gains i made in the year 2016. Our study has important policy implications for the Central Bank of Ghana which can use the data to put in place coherent monetary and fiscal policies that would put the anticipated increase in inflation under control.

This diploma thesis explores the emergence of the welfare state in developing countries, in particular shown on the example of Botswana, Ghana and India. The inquiry is focused on the period beginning in 1990, when the neoliberal paradigm was dominating, untill 2010. The recent years are in token of the shift from the neoliberalism to the post-neoliberalism characterized by a number of concepts, which are taking into account. The common feature of these concepts is the diversion from the narrow focus on GDP, as the only indicator of the growth, to the social dimension of the development. This shift is also being distinguished as a transition from the basic-needs concept to the rights-based approach. Therefore, the thesis explores, if these shifts are remarkable in the analyzed countries, eventually, if there are any divergences as compared to the theoretical concepts. To achieve this goal, a broader analysis of the welfare state was used, which involves social, health and education policy. Based on this analysis, the diploma thesis tries to classify the analyzed countries into the welfare state typology; eventually, in case such classification is impossible, it describes the weaknesses of this welfare state the typology. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The thesis examines the comprehensive relationship between all aspects of financial liberalisation and economic growth in three countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Employing ARDL bounds test approach and real GDP per capita as growth indicator; the thesis finds support in favour of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis but also finds that the increases in the subsequent savings and investments have not been transmitted into economic growth in two of the studied countries. Moreover, the thesis also finds that stock market developments have negligible or negative impact on economic growth in two of the selected countries. The thesis concludes that in most cases, it is not financial liberalisation polices that affect economic growth in the selected ECOWAS countries, but rather increase in the productivity of labour, increase in the credit to the private sector, increase in foreign direct investments, increase in the capital stock and increase in government expenditure contrary to expectations. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that export has only negative effect on economic growth in all the selected ECOWAS countries. The thesis therefore, recommends that long-term export diversification programmes be implemented in the ECOWAS regions whilst further investigation is carried on the issue.
Economic Sciences
D. Litt et Phil. (Economics)

The thesis examines the comprehensive relationship between all aspects of financial liberalisation and economic growth in three countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Employing ARDL bounds test approach and real GDP per capita as growth indicator; the thesis finds support in favour of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis but also finds that the increases in the subsequent savings and investments have not been transmitted into economic growth in two of the studied countries. Moreover, the thesis also finds that stock market developments have negligible or negative impact on economic growth in two of the selected countries. The thesis concludes that in most cases, it is not financial liberalisation polices that affect economic growth in the selected ECOWAS countries, but rather increase in the productivity of labour, increase in the credit to the private sector, increase in foreign direct investments, increase in the capital stock and increase in government expenditure contrary to expectations. Interestingly, the thesis also finds that export has only negative effect on economic growth in all the selected ECOWAS countries. The thesis therefore, recommends that long-term export diversification programmes be implemented in the ECOWAS regions whilst further investigation is carried on the issue.
Economic Sciences
D. Litt et Phil. (Economics)