Public expenditure has been a cardinal objective of all successive governments since Malawi gained its independence in 1964. Successive administrations have on different occasions made attempts to direct government spending towards achieving objectives that have direct bearing on its populace. According to Keynesian view, the increase in public spending on socio-economic and physical structures is important and encourages economic growth. However, Classical economists on the other hand argue that the increase in public expenditure may shift resources from the productive private sector to public sector which they believe is unproductive and hence, crowd out overall performance of the economy. These views indicate that policymakers worldwide including Malawi are under debate whether increase in public spending helps or hinders economic growth. Applying ADF and KPSS tests, Johansen-Juselius co-integration multivariate procedure and TYDL Granger causality test, this study investigates the relationship between government expenditure on roads infrastructure and GDP in Malawi using time series data spanning from 1978 to 2010. ADF and KPSS tests indicate that the series under investigation are integrated of order one (i.e. I(1)). The results of the Johansen co-integration tests indicate a long-run relationship between the roads expenditure and economic growth. The TYDL test indicates the existence of unidirectional causality running from roads expenditure and economic growth which supports Keynes hypothesis that government spending affects economic growth. The study, therefore, concludes that government spending on roads infrastructure causes economic growth, which confirms the main goal of MGDS that aims at achieving economic growth through infrastructure development. Based on these results, the study recommends that government should ensure that both capital and recurrent expenditure are properly managed to accelerate economic growth. More so, Government should promote efficient resource allocation on human capital development by encouraging more private participation to ensure productivity for intensive economic growth.

Small and Medium Enterprises play an important economic role in many countries. In South Africa, for example, a significant proportion of the formal business entities are SMEs; and they contribute between 52 and 57% to GDP, and provide about 61% to employment. However, despite their significance in the local economy, SMEs regularly encounter the threat of failure. Business failure can be disruptive and costly to a large number of stakeholders, which include the owner, the employees, suppliers, customers, investors, bankers, communities, etc. This study examines failed SMEs and compares them with SMEs that are going concerns in order to discover significant differences between the two groups. The study adopted non-parametric tests and binary logistic regression methods. The final data set included 50 failures covering the calendar years July 2009 and June 2012, and 50 going concerns listed in the IDC database on 30 June 2012. The dataset was limited to industrial sector firms from the Chemicals, Metal, Textiles and Wood & Paper industry. The results of this study indicate that, the going concern sample of SMEs were larger than the failures in terms of firm size; led by more experienced management; older in terms of years in existence; and were supported by a stronger equity structure and interest cover ratio. The binary logistic regression results also show that SMEs located in provinces with high per capita income are associated with high probability of failure. But SMEs with increase in annual turnover or increase in equity structure are less likely to fail. Understanding which variables are statistically significantly different between the two groups can enable business owners to develop plans to increase their likelihood of survival. They can also help other stakeholders such as funders implement policies and controls for funding SMEs that mitigate these risk factors.

Despite project finance advancing as a crucial tool in funding huge capital outlay projects that facilitate development little research has been conducted in assessing whether it is the most optimum way of funding big project especially when one looks at the value addition in respect of the shareholders. Consequently, this research attempts to examine whether Project Finance when compared to conventional funding done under Corporate Finance does contribute to shareholders value in funding huge capital outlay projects. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase analysed the Mozal Project which was jointly funded by the IDC and other parties under project finance. In this phase the research assess how the IDC as a funder established measures to protect and enhance value for its shareholders in funding the project. The phase goes further by assessing the value created by the investment from an IDC shareholder point of view. The results are then compared to that of other high capital magnitude projects funded under on balance sheet finance. The second phase comprised of 5 interviews and 25 questionnaires with local Project Finance industry professionals with the aim of establishing the common view on which between on balance sheet and off balance sheet finance has a positive impact on shareholders' value. The first phase led to a general guide on funding projects via project finance does add to shareholder value or not whilst the second phase gave a factual conclusion on whether funding shareholder value through project finance creates value. Specific recommendations for further research work was also indicated where it was felt that there are certain areas that can help in advancing the research subject.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the most talk about businesses which are vital for economic growth at the same time are faced with challenges to obtain finance from the financial institutions. The research intends making a contribution to assist coming up with a possible way and strategy to obtain funds and devise an implementation plan to make funds accessible to the SMEs. Different studies point to almost similar causes that lead to the challenges experienced by the SMEs. Everyone that has shown an interest in the subject of the SMEs has in a way, formally or informally, proposed some kind of intervention mechanism. Different things are being tried at the same time in order to speed up the process although the progress is not to the level of satisfactory otherwise there would be no need to undertake the research. The focus of the research is on the SMEs in South Africa. In preparation for this research, a literature review on various aspects of the SMEs was covered to ensure that whatever plan of action is going to be proposed there is no repetition of work that has already been done; instead it can be aligned to some ideas that have already been suggested. The research explores possible ways to source funds that will be used towards financing the SMEs in South Africa. A suggested implementation strategy is to ensure that the impact is significant in improving the situation. Details of who will be responsible for what and the possible sources of funds are provided in Chapters four and five. The research is more on devising the solution for the SMEs based on the readily available literature review information and the opinions of the researcher, for that reason there is no need for surveys or preparation of questionnaires for submission to some of the financial institutions. A great deal of work has been done in this area of the SMEs and it is clear as to what is the real challenge. Primary and secondary data are relevant for this research. The research is undertaken with the understanding that people will have different ideas and preferences for different reasons; hence it is expected to have divided views on what is in this research report. In addressing global issues or issues of national interest a collaborative effort is crucial, and where possible innovative ideas are to be shared. The whole world is calling for innovative ideas; the more ideas are put on the table the better, then a judgement call will be made to implement or not implement. There are those who believe that government should intervene by reviewing policies to correct the market failure and some see the establishment of a financial institution solely intended for the SMEs. What does not come out clearly is how the institution will be funded considering that there are so many challenges in South Africa that need government intervention and the resources are limited. Based on this, the researcher identified options to be used to generate funds to be used to finance the SMEs, details are in Chapter four, and then the amount to be obtained from each option was estimated, details are in Chapter five. The strategy to manage financing of the SMEs is provided in Chapter Six and the discussion of the results which are found in different sections of this report is in Chapter Seven, followed by the conclusion.

The growing interest responsible investing strategies driven by bodies such as the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing Initiative has resulted in issues such as climate change and its impact on investment portfolios becoming part of the asset management industry discourse. However, the degree to which these issues are perceived by asset managers to be significant has not been expanded upon extensively in literature. This study was undertaken to evaluate South African asset manager perceptions regarding the integration of climate change risks within equity investment decision-making processes. The study was further aimed at providing an understanding of preferred methods of climate change risk integration, where integration does take place, and the perceived barriers to integration within the South African Asset Management industry. To achieve the above-mentioned aims, an online survey of South African asset managers was conducted. The questions in the survey comprised a combination of open ended and closed ended questions with Likert and ranking scales being used. The data which was both quantitative and qualitative in nature was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis methods involving the identification of trends.

Venture capital as a source of finance and non-financial services has gained popularity among start-up and existing businesses worldwide in recent years. Venture capital has been synonymous with high technology start-ups in the United States and of late has emerged as a recognizable source of finance in South Africa. South Africa has a healthy VC industry and growing number of SMEs. The SMEs in the country however have a challenge when it comes to accessing financial resources for starting businesses and for expansion purposes despite the existence of VC companies. It would have been the popular belief that the emergence of VC companies in the country would have increased the alternatives to the financing sources for SMEs but this seems to not have been the case. The VC companies are still not popular among the small business sector and their services are still not accessible as well. The aim of the study was to explore the state of venture capital market in South Africa and find out how it can accelerate entrepreneurial development. The researcher selected VC companies who are associated to the South Africa Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA) and SMEs based Johannesburg area to take part in the study. The target sample was 70 venture capital firms and 200 SMEs from the Johannesburg area. The response rate from the VC companies was 53% and it was 67% from SMEs. The results obtained from the study indicated that there was a need for VC companies to impart more information concerning their services to SMEs. The SMEs generally did not have much knowledge of venture capital, how and where ton access it hence the low accessibility of this finance source to South African SMEs. The empirical study revealed that only 17% of SMEs in the study had knowledge of VC financing and only 6% of the SMEs had approached VC companies in the past. It was also discovered that 85% of the VC companies believed that the conveyance of information relating to their services contributed to the challenges SMEs faced in accessing VC sector. Of the SMEs taking part in the study 45% strongly believed that the development of the VC sector will drive SME growth and survival in South Africa.

The level of supply of public transport increases proportionately with population size. However, increases in population growth and urbanization have led to several transport problems, including meeting the supply of transport services. The rationale behind the supply model as used in the study is generally found in economic theory, where vehicle operators/owners choose among alternative opportunities before investing in urban transport service industry. Despite the importance of the transport business sector to the Zimbabwean economy, the continued undersupply in the sector is alarming. The main objective of the study is to identify the factors affecting the supply of urban transport in Harare, Zimbabwe. The research seeks to find the reasons of the high mismatch of demand and supply in the urban public transport sector. These situations are related to finance, demand forecasting, management, high operational overheads, unviable fares, marketing, capitalization at start up and business planning. It also established that many entrepreneurs have high operational overheads as a result of inefficiency due to vehicle old age and high statutory safety requirements on vehicle fitness, which is forcing many large investors to opt to sell their passenger vehicles and venture into haulage trucks instead. By the end of the research we should be able to list the factors affecting investment in this sector in their order of importance such that coming up with solutions to those most important factors may just unlock a lot of investment into this sector This research established the notion that under investment in the transport sector are caused by lack of funding and non viable fares even though occupancy is very good. These factors will serve as a basis of modeling the supply situation in the study area. In addition, the study will outline some policy directions, which need to be considered in order to sustain the supply of urban transport services.

Historical analysis suggests that in the short to medium term, dollarization as a monetary policy measure, post a period of high inflation, reduces economic volatility, stabilises the inflation of goods and services, and restores economic predictability. However, in fully dollarized economics (as opposed to dual currency economies,) in the medium term, the effects of dollarization do not create a suitable environment for long term sustainable growth. This paper discusses the benefits and challenges of full dollarization and suggests a further policy measure of re-introducing the local currency through a managed regime. The paper looks to smoothing out money supply volatility through Zimbabwe dollar introduction. Understanding the responsiveness of the economy to monetary liquidity is explained through theoretical and extrapolative statistical analysis derived from a short-range historic time series.

This study set out to investigate factors affecting the adoption of mobile money services in Kenya and Nigeria. Using various models such as; the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Unified Technology Acceptance User Theory (UTAUT), Innovation Diffusion Process and demographic variables (age, sex, education level, access bank account, ownership of mobile phone, MM awareness) from datasets produced by Financial Inclusion Insights. This survey data is nationally representative for Nigeria with a sample of 6,001 adults aged 15 or older, both male and female and Kenya with a sample of 2,994 adults aged 15 or older, both male and female. The study employed the probit and logit regression model to examine the significant determining factors of mobile money adoption in Kenya and Nigeria. The results of the analysis revealed that the average respondent of the populations in both markets has access to a mobile phone and hence technology is not a limiting factor to the penetration of Mobile Money in both these markets. The primary limiting factor is due to low levels of financial education, literacy and access to microfinance. The average Nigerian respondent did not know about Mobile Money whereas the average Kenyan respondent knew something about Mobile Money. Additionally, in Kenya, the MM initiative was privately led by MNO's where in Nigeria the Central Bank controls the MM industry. From the logit and probit results, the study identifies that the following variables; (FF1) personally registered a bank account, (MM1) has the respondent heard of Mobile Money were significant determinants of MMU in Nigeria. While in Kenya; (DG1) age of respondent, (MM1) has the respondent heard of something called mobile money, (FF1) personally registered bank account were the significant determining factors affecting MMU. This study has therefore shown that, despite the lower penetration and absorption of mobile money services in Nigeria, factors that create a thriving MM ecosystem like that in Kenya are obtainable in Nigeria. If the Nigerian regulators were to change the political and financial framework and create a more accessible market Nigeria could look a lot like Kenya's MM ecosystem.

Access to reliable energy that is especially modern and affordable, is a prerequisite for economic growth and improved quality of life. Accordingly, energy is an essential input for economic activity and human well-being. Estimates for technological advances in energy systems show that less than 30 percent of the population in sub Saharan Africa has access to affordable, reliable and modern forms of energy compared to 65 percent in South Asia and at least 90 percent in East Asia. Additionally, only 24.7 percent of the households in the southern most region of sub Saharan Africa have access to electricity, with biomass remaining the primary energy source. Focusing primarily on the Southern African region, this study used the time series analysis to investigate the causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in selected countries between 1980 and 2016. Regression analysis was used to establish the nature of the relationship between the variables. Lastly, the study predicted a 5-year energy consumption and economic growth using forecast models in Microsoft Excel. Variables were tested for statistical significance using granger causality tests. Results showed that there was a causality relationship between the two variables for Botswana and Zimbabwe. South Africa did not show any significance for analysis following the Granger causality test. Zimbabwe showed a very weak and negative linear relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. Overall, the results revealed that, in the short run, there was a bidirectional causality relationship between GDP per capita and electric power consumption per capita, and in the long run a unidirectional relationship running from GDP per capita to electric power consumption per capita. The overall findings of the study show that there is a corresponding relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. Therefore, improvements in energy generation are important for the economic development of SADC countries. Future studies may need to employ cointegration analyses to identify the degree to which variables are sensitive to the same average price over a specific period of time.