Issue 3 (September)

This paper explores how digital technology reduces trade costs using bilateral trade data from RCEP member countries and a panel fixed effects model. The findings show that digital technology significantly lowers trade costs, a conclusion that holds even after accounting for lag effects and various robustness checks. The impact of digital technology on trade costs follows an inverted U-shape: the effect is most significant in the current period, especially with a one-period lag, and diminishes over time. Larger economies and higher export levels strengthen this negative impact due to their reliance on exports and continuous improvements in domestic digital technology. The study recommends investing in digital infrastructure, formulating reasonable internet access policies, supporting digital skills development, and enhancing digital connectivity to bridge the digital divide, thereby promoting trade facilitation and efficiency.

The Paper investigates the elasticity of substitution between foreign direct investment (FDI) and private domestic investment on the external reserves of some selected 14 African countries. To achieve the objective of the best substitutability of investment suitable for Africa, using data on gross fixed capital formation as a proxy for private domestic investment, inflation, external reserves, and foreign direct investment. From the Empirical literature reviewed, studies on the substitutability of investments in external reserves in Africa have not yet been addressed. The Dynamic General Methods of Moments (DGMM) was employed for the analysis since the African countries are more than the scope of the study which ranges from 2010 to 2022. The results show that foreign direct investment is preferred to private domestic investment in Africa. Additionally, the elasticity of substitution from FDI to domestic private investment was found to be stronger and more elastic than the contrary. Therefore, the study recommends that African countries should focus on strengthening fixed assets to create more revenue from additional fixed assets which would impact more on the external reserves of Africa, by attracting foreigners.

This paper investigates the impact of monetary policy on the performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria, using monthly data series spanning the period 2008 to 2023. Total private sector credit of deposit money banks was used to proxy the performance of deposit money banks while money supply, monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, and maximum interest rate were used as proxies for monetary policy. The Ex-post Facto research design was adopted in this study. Data on total private sector credit of deposit money banks, money supply, monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, and maximum interest rate were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical bulletin. The hypotheses of this paper were tested using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag statistics. The findings disclosed that total private sector credit of deposit money banks has a significant relationship with money supply and maximum interest rate while cash reserve ratio and monetary policy rate has an insignificant relationship with total private sector credit of deposit money banks. The researchers recommended among other things that the monetary authorities should consider policies that enhance liquidity within the banking system. This can be achieved through open market operations, reducing the reserve requirements, or other mechanisms that increase the availability of funds in the economy as the money supply was found to be statistically significant. Also, it is crucial for monetary authorities to monitor and adjust the maximum interest rates to ensure they remain conducive to deposit growth. High lending rates may discourage borrowing and subsequently reduce deposits, while more favorable rates could encourage economic activity and deposit inflows.

The integration of countries into the global economy comes with exposure to risks that can be assessed through empirical investigation to uncover their impact on the domestic economy. Thus, this study attempts to answer the question of whether globalisation and geopolitical risk matter for stock market performance in Nigeria, given the growing interaction with the rest of the world. In doing so, the paper employs the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) technique to analyse annual time series data on relevant variables from 1985 to 2021. The main finding indicates that globalisation and geopolitical risks significantly dampen the performance of the Nigerian stock market, whether it is measured by market capitalisation or by an all-share index. Accordingly, the study recommends the implementation of policies aimed at mitigating the risks associated with the globalisation and geopolitics to enhance the performance of the financial market.

This study examines the factors influencing inflation stability in Nigeria from 2011Q1 to 2023Q1. We employ an ARDL model to assess the impact of monetary policy rate, money supply, crude oil price, GDP growth, and government budget deficit on inflation. Our findings reveal that broad money and fiscal deficit exert a positive and statistically significant influence on inflation in both the short and long run. Interestingly, monetary policy rate only affects inflation in the short term. These results suggest that Nigerian policymakers should prioritize managing broad money and fiscal deficits to achieve long-term inflation stability.