Was There a Credit Crunch in Namibia Between 1996-2000?

Commercial bank credit is a useful tool for promoting economic growth especially at the early stages of development. It has been observed that between 1996 and the early part of 2000, the growth rate of real credit to the private sector declined significantly in Namibia. This period coincided with observed strong demand for commercial bank loans. There has therefore been public discourse on the possibility of a restriction in the supply of credit by commercial banks and hence the occurrence of a credit crunch in the economy since commercial bank lending capacity did not fall. This paper attempts to provide some evidence in this regard by examining the main determinants of commercial bank credit in the economy and ascertaining if credit has been demand or supply constrained. This has been done through a survey of disaggregated data in the banking industry and an estimation of a switching regression model to identify regimes of excess supply and demand. Although it is difficult to determine in the face of obvious demand factors the extent to which the credit slowdown can be attributed to credit supply factors, our results show that supply factors did play a major role.Africa, Namibia, credit crunch, asymmetric information, economic growth

Institutional Reforms and the Role of Multilateral Aid Agencies

foreign aid, institutions, development aid

A novel time domain protection technique for multi-terminal HVDC networks utilising travelling wave energy

Fault vulnerability and protection issues are major challenge in realising multi-terminal HVDC transmission system, also termed HVDC grids. This paper presents a novel time domain and transient based protection technique for application to HVDC grids. The technique utilises the energy of the forward and backward travelling waves produced by a fault to distinguish between internal and external faults. For an internal fault, the calculated forward or backward travelling wave energy for a pre-set time duration following the occurrence of a fault must exceed a predetermined setting otherwise the fault is external. This characteristic is largely due to the DC inductor located at the cable ends, as per HVDC breakers or fault current limiters, which provides attenuation for the high frequency transients resulting from an external fault. The ratio between the forward travelling wave energy and the backward travelling wave energy provides directional comparison. For a forward directional fault with respect to a local relay, this ratio must be less than unity whereas the ratio is greater than unity for a reverse directional fault. The simulation results presented based on full scale Modular Multilevel Converter Based HVDC grid shows the suitability of the proposed technique. An advantage of this technique is that it is non-unit based and as such no communication delay is incurred. Furthermore, it is simple as it does not require complex mathematical/DSP technique; and as such can be easily implemented at each independent relay since it will require minimal hardware resources hence reduces cost

A transient based protection technique for future DC grids utilising travelling wave power

This study presents a novel time-domain protection technique for application to DC grids. The technique utilises the power developed by the forward and backward travelling waves produced by a fault to distinguish between internal and external faults. For an internal fault, the calculated travelling wave power must exceed a predetermined setting; otherwise the fault is external. The ratio between the forward travelling wave power and the backward travelling wave power provides a directional comparison. For a forward directional fault, this ratio is less than unity, whereas the ratio is greater than unity for reverse directional faults. To improve the sensitivity of the protection scheme for long-distance remote internal fault, a second element utilising the concavity of the forward travelling wave power is proposed. The proposed technique is time domain based and does not require complex mathematical burden; moreover, as such can be easily implemented since it will require fewer hardware resources. Simulations were carried out in power systems computer-aided design/electromagnetic transient simulations, and the results presented considering wider cases of fault scenarios including 500 Ω remote internal fault shows the suitability of the proposed scheme as all fault scenarios indicated were identified within 500 µs following the application of the fault

Financial Sector Reforms and Monetary Policy in Nigeria

This paper reviews the impact of financial liberalisation on monetary policy in Nigeria, examining in particular the progress made in the transition from direct to indirect forms of monetary management. While recognising the inherent shortcomings of the previous direct control system, it highlights the difficulties that have been experienced in practice in moving to indirect controls. It argues that Nigeria’s inability to meet certain minimum conditions could to a great extent compromise the successful implementation of indirect controls. It concludes that a range of measures are needed, including far reaching measures on restructuring insolvent banks, introduction of powers to deal with offending market participants, development of the secondary market, plus a shift to a realistic exchange rate. Even when all these have been achieved, there remains the need to substantially reduce government fiscal deficits and remove ceilings on interest rates, without which the money market cannot function adequately. The paper raises serious questions about the advisability of implementing open market operations on a large scale at this stage of the economic reform

Preserving the Rural Place: A Geotourism in a Globalized World

The traditional rural place signifies rural areas with small settlements, low population density, agrarian-based economies and a traditional society. This paper aimed at drawing the attention of the policy maker’s attention to the importance and need to create values from rural landscape and preserve the existing biodiversity of the local environment. People do first occupy a space that are transformed into a meaningful place or given a sense of place vital for navigating something like an abstract geometric space. Often time, this captures our live experience of the landscape. The global socio-ecological took roots from moral crisis emerging from unsustainable consumption and a new paradigm of sustainable development directed at holistic human development. As more than half of the Nigeria’s rural population live below poverty line speaks volumes that much needs to be done. Policies on ecosystem services need review for adequate protection for sustainable service delivery. Above all, provide opportunity for all to have synergies that promote the development of rural organization such as community–driven cooperative to enhance investment in essential infrastructures and services, and recognize the role of urban areas in fostering rural development. Keywords: Rural areas, Geo-tourism, Place, empowerment, Sustainable rural development DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/56-02 Publication date:May 31st 2021

Strategic Implication of Rising Global Food Security Crisis

The study investigated the rising global food security crisis. Emphasis was placed on the strategic implication of this menace, and this was done with a focus on Nigeria. To carry out the study effectively, secondary data was used. The rising global food security crisis is occasioned by rising global food prices. This is also accompanied by scarcity of staple food sources. It was discovered that there was indeed a rising global food security crisis, and that the strategic implication of this is rarely investigated. Causes of global food security crisis include global high cost of energy, use of bio fuel based energy, increase in global population and demand for food, climate change, under investment in agriculture production, armed conflict corruption and bad government in Africa. The strategic implication of food security included general insecurity health problems migration environmental degradation etc. The outbreak of COVID-19 brought to the knowledge of all that a combination of short-term responses and long term investment driver of foodinsecurity.  It was concluded that there is indeed a rising global food security crisis. It was therefore recommended that the United States (U.S.) and other donor countries should make agriculture and rural development is priority in its internal assistance programmes. It was also recommended that since global security challenges, such as terrorism are linked to food security crisis and poverty in general, current international and local efforts should include measures that put food on every citizens’ table by way of frustrating and eradication of terrorism, recommendation also includes the development of practical strategies to improve agricultural practices such as food storage should be researched and developed being a major challenge faced by developing countries. Keywords: Food Security, Poverty, Food storage, rising prices, insecurity, global health and armed conflicts. DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/11-4-05 Publication date:May 31st 202