Given Kuwait’s economic dependency on oil exports, analyzing the effects of oil prices fluctuations on the emerging Boursa Kuwait is crucial. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the long-run and short-run relationships between Kuwait’s oil prices and Boursa Kuwait’s performance utilizing recent data of the premier index, which was established in 2018. After applying the stationarity tests on the daily data from 2018 to 2022, the empirical Johansen’s cointegration method revealed the absence of long-run relationship between oil prices and stock market returns when an optimal lag two of the Schwarz information criterion was used. In the short term, the autoregressive model showed that oil prices’ past lag can predict the Kuwait’s oil prices and premier index, whereas the past lag values of the premier index can predict the premier index but not oil prices. The vector autoregressive coefficients in the short-run findings is that the capital market policymakers may need to revise their financial strategies by observing Kuwait’s oil production, which affects the economy and the performance of the listed companies in Boursa Kuwait. Moreover, portfolio managers may need to revise their hedging investment policies based on the effect of oil prices.
While an undervalued exchange rate has gained prominence in the last three decades as a correlate of economic growth and poverty alleviation, South Africa’s experience is less encouraging as the depreciation of the Rand against the United States dollar barely coincided with poverty reduction. Against this background, this paper sought to examine the impact of real exchange rate undervaluation on poverty reduction in South Africa. It also investigated how the nature of productivity growth influenced the impact of real exchange rate undervaluation on poverty reduction. Using annual time series data observed between 1995 and 2020, evidence from binary regressions and a Balassa-Samuelson adjusted undervaluation measure suggests that an undervalued exchange rate could have potentially lifted people out of poverty had it been accompanied by within-sector productivity growth of at least 2.5% annually. The South African economy fell short of this threshold level between 1995 and 2020 as annual within-sector productivity growth averaged 2.2%. Furthermore, evidence shows that South Africa went through a structural change that shifted employment in the wrong direction. Low-skilled workers appear to have moved from primary and secondary to tertiary sectors, a process that shrank overall productivity growth.
This study uses the Vector Error Correction (VEC) technique and secondary quarterly time-series data to examine the nexus between public debt and economic growth in South Africa. The findings confirm classical economists' ideology, since this study found a long-term negative relationship between economic growth and both domestic and foreign debt, with economic growth and domestic debt being causally related. Inflation, economic growth, and fiscal deficits also have negative long-term relationships. The Impulse Response Functions (IRFs) show that shocks to inflation and domestic debt have a negative reaction on South Africa's economic growth rate, whereas shocks to gross fixed capital formation have a partially positive reaction. The shocks to South Africa's fiscal deficit and foreign debt have also had a mixed reaction on the country's economic growth rate. Variance decomposition analysis show a significant decline in South Africa's economic growth rate variance, with domestic debt and inflation increasing and the fiscal deficit declining marginally, while foreign debt declined marginally before increasing significantly. This study recommends that South Africa should enhance its fiscal management strategies, including financial repression, debt restructuring, cost cutting, and improved capital spending. Enhancing these strategies could boost the economy's productive capacity.
This study provides an examination of cryptocurrency regulation across diverse jurisdictions, including Romania, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Russia, and the Republic of Moldova, with a focus on legislative, fiscal, and supervisory frameworks. Utilizing a qualitative and comparative analysis approach, the research aims to clarify global regulatory strategies, particularly the balance between fostering innovation and safeguarding investor interests, financial stability, and anti-money laundering protocols. Key findings highlight a spectrum of approaches: Japan’s pioneering legislative framework, Switzerland’s progressive policies, Brazil’s evolving regulations, and the restrictive measures in China and Russia, along with Moldova’s comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency services. Romania’s regulatory position is contextualized within this global framework, demonstrating a cautious but flexible stance that underscores the need for a balanced approach to regulatory policy. The study’s conclusions stress the importance of a robust and adaptable regulatory system to keep pace with technological advances in cryptocurrency. It advocates for international collaboration on regulatory standards and emphasizes the critical role of public education in responsible cryptocurrency use. Recommendations include ongoing monitoring of the cryptocurrency market and policy refinement to achieve a balanced approach that ensures innovation while protecting consumers and financial integrity.
This study focuses on the causal relationship between official development assistance (ODA), foreign direct investment (FDI), and economic growth in selected African countries. Insufficient government funding cannot support all national projects due to limited financial resources. Therefore, the lack of government funding in Africa served as a catalyst for this study. In addition, this study employed the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test to examine the causal relationship between ODA, FDI, and economic growth for the period 1980 to 2018. Using the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality technique, this study revealed no causal relationship between FDI and economic growth nor between ODA and FDI. Furthermore, the study indicates a bidirectional relationship between ODA and economic growth in Africa. Due to these findings, this paper urges African countries to pay close attention to how ODA is measured as well as the importance of foreign capital inflows (ODA and FDI) in driving economic growth. In turn, this study contributes to the extensive empirical studies of the relationships between ODA, FDI, and economic growth in Africa by shedding light on how policymakers can foster more sustainable growth and stability in Africa.
