This report examines the causal linkages between FDI, financial sector development, savings, remittances and economic growth in South Africa using annual time series data from 1970 to 2010. The results show that none of the financial sector variables directly lead to economic growth. However, economic growth is found to stimulate FDI and financial sector development. With regards to the causal linkages between the different financial factors, the results show that savings have highly significant causal linkages with FDI and financial sector development. In addition, the results suggest that savings have a moderately significant causal relationship with remittances. Furthermore, the results indicate that FDI has a weakly unidirectional causal relationship with financial sector development, and the direction of causality runs from FDI. The findings also suggest that remittances have a weakly significant relationship with FDI. Thus, these findings suggest that policy-makers in South Africa should aim principally at increasing domestic savings and economic growth rates since increasing domestic savings will significantly increase FDI, financial sector development and remittances, and increases in the economic growth rates will significantly increase financial sector development and FDI.

The government sector forms a significant part of the economy. As such, it is important to examine the impact of government activities on the economy. This study investigates the impact of several components of government expenditure on economic growth between 2001Q1 and 2014Q4 using the vector error correction model. The study found that only expenditure on transport and gross fixed capital formation had a significant positive impact on economic growth in the short-run. In the long-run, only expenditures on transport and education had a significant impact on economic growth. However, expenditure on health has a negative, although insignificant, impact on economic growth. This result may be due to the heavy concentration of health expenditure on disease treatment rather than disease preventive measures. Spending on defense has no significant impact on economic growth. Expenditure on agriculture was found to have no significant impact on economic growth both in the short- and long-run, partly due to a heavy concentration of expenditure on price-distorting agriculture input- and output-price support programs. The findings of the study suggest that there is need to focus expenditure on increasing agricultural productivity, improving the quality of education, improving road infrastructure and expanding disease prevention measures.

This paper reviews the causal connection between private investment; interest rates and macroeconomic uncertainty in South Africa on a yearly time series data range between 1980 and 2014. This research was encouraged by the continually weakening private investment in South Africa relative to total investment. There is a need to turn around this pattern. This research contributes towards a greater comprehension of the variables and their direction of impact in the examination of the pattern of private investments and additionally, the impacts of interest rate and macroeconomic uncertainty on private investment in SA. The study employs an ARDL model for co-integration to explore the presence of a long-run relationship between the variables and the granger causality within VECM to check the interrelations among the series. The findings reveal that all variables are co-integrated to suggest the existence of a long-run relationship among private investment, long-term interest rates and bond spread. The results show that macroeconomic uncertainty exerts an adverse influence on private investment, in accordance with economic theory. In contrast to the theory, the long-term interest rates coefficient is positive and significant in the projected equation. Therefore, the conclusion is that the interest rate contributes toward the reduction in private investment. Keeping in mind the end goal to resuscitate private investment, government ought to consider receiving approaches that lift total request, offering greater venture motivations, facilitating credit limitations by forming a more productive and vigorous money-related framework, decreasing macroeconomic vulnerabilities, encouraging foundation improvement, and empowering inflows of outside speculation.

The importance of understanding the relationship between fiscal policies and economic growth has inspired many scholars to investigate the underlying relationship between these variables. In Zambia the growth in public expenditure has become a topical issue in the light of escalating debt levels and widening budget deficit; as a result, the government is constantly under pressure to borrow to cover the deficit. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of government expenditure on economic growth in Zambia. The study used secondary data which was sourced from the Zambian Ministry of Finance and World Bank websites for the period from 1991 to 2015. The data was analyzed using E-Views 9.5 student version. The econometric tools used to analyze the data are the Autoregressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) and the Pairwise Granger Causality Test. The variables included in the research are public expenditure and economic growth. Both variables were stationary at first difference. Empirical finding from the study indicates that there is a positive and significant relationship between public expenditure and economic growth in Zambia both in the short-run and the long-run. Further, Granger causality test demonstrated a unidirectional causality from public expenditure to economic growth. This finding validated the fact that the Zambian fiscal environment is aligned to the Keynesian theory as opposed to Wagner's Law. In essence, the study recommended more allocation of resources towards public expenditure, including exploiting public-private partnerships as a way of increasing expenditure towards social sectors and infrastructure without necessarily increasing the strain on government resources.

This study sets out to investigate the impact of commercial banks development on economic growth in Namibia. Using quarterly data on GDP as well as various commercial banks development indicators, covering the period March 2005 to December 2016, the study employed the Auto-Regression Distributive Lag (ARDL) methodology in determining existence of the short-run and long-run relationships. Furthermore, the study employed the Granger causality test in determining the causal relationship between banking sector development and economic growth. From the ARDL results, the study concluded that there is existence of a positive short-run relationship between banking sector development and GDP growth, channelled through net interest income and funding liabilities of banks. The causality test indicated a bi-directional causality between economic growth and the banking sector development, entailing that development of the banking sector would enhance GDP growth and vice versa. The study thus concluded that, commercial banks development has an impact on economic growth in Namibia and recommends for reforms in the banking industry to ensure increased lending in order to support the economy.

This thesis investigates the determinants of participation in microfinance programmes and its impact on rural welfare in order to suggest improvements to the level of participation and the effectiveness of the programmes. The level of participation by rural smallholders in Botswana is much lower than expected in spite of the availability of schemes and their ease of access. The study uses one of National Development Bank Botswana's credit schemes in Kweneng District to investigate this problem. A field survey was carried out on 112 smallholder farmers, half of whom are scheme participants, to establish what factors affect the probability of their participation in the scheme. The study applied a logit model to determine which variables significantly affected the probability of participation in the credit scheme. The results indicated that some variables like gender and educational status had little effect on the probability of participation. A number of policy variables which include age, previous experience of credit use, respondents' perception of group collateral, distance from the National Development Bank, access to irrigation and total landholding size were found to have a significant effect. On the welfare effect, more than half of participants in the microfinance credit scheme indicated that their welfare improved as a direct result of the programme. As future research, it would be useful if the study could be extended to all districts of the country to enable the generalization of findings and provide valuable information for agricultural and poverty alleviation policy purposes.

This study investigated the impact of public spending on enrolments in primary and secondary education in Nigeria using a multiple regression model. The model was constructed to identify the relationship between government spending, primary and secondary enrolments rate while also considering the interaction with control variables; per capita income, workers remittances, and population growth. Using the OLS approach to analyse the data for the period 1981 to 2013. Interesting observations were made which are explained for by inconsistency in government allocation or spending on education in Nigeria. It was observed that a significant positive relationship exists between per capita income, government spending, and primary school enrolment rates while a negative relationship exists between population growth, workers' remittances and primary education enrolment. As for secondary education enrolment rate, there is a positive relationship between per capita income, population growth but a negative relationship with government spending and workers' remittances due to the fee-paying secondary schools and interest in informal trade. These findings add nuance to the understanding of the variables affecting education enrolment rates in Nigeria beyond that of government spending, to other variables which are critical to the structure of the economy given its high immigration and out of school children population. This study is part of the growing empirical literature addressing education finance and outcomes gap. Beyond the consistency required in financing, the Nigerian government must build infrastructure that will support improvement in the overall social wellbeing of the growing populace and encourage transition into secondary schools.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing unprecedented levels of unemployment and high poverty. Against this backdrop, the growth of small- to- medium enterprises (SMEs) has been seen as a practical measure to help Zimbabwe's ailing economy address the complex macroeconomic challenges. However SMEs only receive 5% of total loans despite contributing 50% to GDP. This led to high levels of financial exclusion among the owners of SMEs, as banks cite credit risk as major challenge. Empirical evidence highlighted that 60% of the SMEs were financially excluded. This study explored the factors that influence financial inclusion of SMEs in Zimbabwe. This study analysed demand-side, supply-side and infrastructural constraints that inhibit financial inclusion. Demand-side factors of high transaction costs, financial illiteracy, and lack of confidence in the financial system and low levels of education resonated as issues among SMEs. On the supply side and infrastructural challenges: lack of widely accessible branches, information asymmetry, irrelevant financial products and service and high risk levels were the main deterrents within the financial sector. The population for the study was the Zimbabwean banking sector that comprised of 10 financial institutions and 50 SMEs that had been in operation from 2010 to 2015. The study collected primary data using semi-structured numerically coded questions and used descriptive statistical measure such as mean and standard deviation to analyse data. The results indicated that all demand-side, supply side and infrastructural factors were significantly related to the financial inclusion of SMEs. Evidence that their lack of confidence in the banking sector and prohibitive requirements including high bank charges were some of the key determinants negatively impacting financial inclusion. The smaller operators cited low incomes and the unavailability of savings as another deterrent. Evidence from financial institutions revealed absence of credit history, low-income levels, inadequate infrastructure, weak consumer protection regulations, and limited information on SME operations were inhibiting factors to financial exclusion. Based on the findings, the study recommended that government introduce financial education and introduce a policy that mandates financial institutions to provide relevant products and services to SMEs as an incentive to poverty reduction and economic development.

The purpose of this study is to, firstly, identify opportunities for manufactured exports from South Africa to its five largest trading partners in the SADC region, namely Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Secondly, the study investigates the challenges facing South African firms in exporting to the SADC markets and the strategies that can be pursued to overcome these challenges. The study uses a mixed-methods approach where secondary quantitative data was analysed to identify manufactured products with high potential for export to the selected SADC countries. Semi-structured interviews were used to answer the secondary research questions related to identifying export challenges facing South Africa, and strategies to overcome these challenges. It was found that the products with the highest potential for export to the five countries are mainly found in heavy duty vehicles, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, structural and building materials, construction machinery and equipment, and petroleum oils and other petroleum products. The main challenges, as well as strategies to overcome these challenges, were grouped into seven themes as follows: Facilitation of Trade; Understanding the SADC Market; South Africa's relationship with the Rest of Africa; Non-tariff Barriers; Regional Integration; South African competitiveness; and Competition. The recommendations of the study include South Africa developing a more tailored approach to doing business with the SADC countries in terms of product and service offerings as well as trade promotion activities. Furthermore the development of a market intelligence database, training programmes, a cohesive marketing strategy for the country's capabilities and a regional value chain approach are recommended. It is hoped that the findings of the study will contribute towards informing the development of a targeted regional export strategy for South Africa.

This study investigates the impact of value communication on financial sustainability of not for profits set up as small to medium scale enterprises. The major objective is to determine whether there is a significant impact on the financial sustainability if not for profits create a more aggressive approach and innovate way of communicating with financiers and donors on matters concerning their strategic plans and budgets. The four pillars of financial sustainability have been considered focusing mostly on Strategic and financial planning or budgeting. Measuring sustainability for a not for profit differs from that of a profit making enterprise in that measures such as return on capital employed would be meaningless since most not for profit have a low capital base and are not bottom-line focused. The independent variable has been identified as value communication of strategic and financial planning or budgeting with donors or potential funders while the dependent variable is financial sustainability defined as meeting current budgetary demands. Moderating and Intervening variables identified include ; global financial environment ,operating environment, policy position of donor funding states, donor funding policies, goals and objectives, structure of donor funding towards development programmes and projects and CEO charisma and communication attributes. The study followed a survey design, and employed Times Series as evaluative method for quantitative analysis. Analysis was based on primary data generated through a structured questionnaire administered on respondents. Respondents were employees in selected not for profit organizations working in the four key development services supporting the Millennium Development Goals and Sixth National Development Plan, namely Health, Education, Agriculture and Water and Sanitation in Zambia. Interviews were also conducted with various financiers and donors of the selected not for profit enterprises. Responses to research statements were scaled and converted to quantitative data via Likert scale developed for the study to enable segmentation of the data responses into dependent and independent variables based on communication and financial sustainability variables. This study will help not for profits create an innovative communication strategy so as not to risk losing funding to other competitors or new comers on the scene.