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Investment Decisions keep changing as per the economic, political and social environments and continuous monitoring and rebalancing of portfolio becomes important for any investor so as to minimise the risk and maximise the returns. Covid-19 pandemic is not an exception to the many changing environment, which has significantly changed the outlook and the performance of the economy and the financial markets. In view of this, it was of interest to study the investment decisions of Asset Management Companies (AMCs). The study aims to compare the changes in the composition of portfolio by industry classification of select Mutual Fund Schemes of sample AMCs due to the pandemic. March 2020 has been taken as the event month as the lockdown was announced during this month. The study aims to compare the changes in the composition of portfolio by industry allocation in select MF Schemes of sample AMCs in the months of January and February 2020 (pre lockdown) and April and May 2020 (post lockdown) and to analyse the impact of lockdown on the performance of the select MF Schemes of the sample AMCs.

Keywords: Investment Decisions, Portfolio by Industry Classification, Bluechip Fund, Large Cap, NAV

JEL classification: G11, G12

The objective of this paper is to study the impact of different instruments of monetary and macroprudential policy on financial stability, using a sample of 48 countries, over the period 2000-2016. Based on the recent survey conducted by the IMF in 2016, we extend the database created by Cerutti, et al. (2015), considering macroprudential instruments through a binary approach. The results show the effectiveness of both monetary and macroprudential policies in reducing credit growth and so, in stabilizing financial system. However, macro-prudential regulation is more effective than monetary policy, given the number of monetary policy objectives and the short-term interest rate limit. Macroprudential tools appear to be more effective for emerging countries, given the degree of openness and limited external financing possibilities; these tools are used to limit excessive lending. For advanced countries that are more financially open, with more diversified and sophisticated external financial sources, macroprudential tools seem to be less effective and difficult to monitor, they are used to control mortgage borrowing and foreign exchange loans.

JEL Classification: E43, E58, G18, G28

Keywords: Macroprudential policies, Monetary policy, Effectiveness, Procyclicality, Financial stability,

The paper empirically examines the nexus between foreign trade, consumer protection and public health in Nigeria, using annual time series data from 1981 to 2021. Cointegration and dynamic error correction modelling techniques were utilized in the analysis. The empirical findings show that foreign trade policy has a positive and significant effect on public health in Nigeria. Consumer protection (proxied by consumer protection dummy) and per capita income are both positively related to public health, although the effects are weak, attributable to the low level of consumer protection and awareness, in addition to the low level of per capital income that fuels income and wealth disparity, with the effect of reducing health outcomes in Nigeria. Public expenditure on health and inflation rate (proxy for macroeconomic policy environment) are negatively and significantly related to public health outcomes in Nigeria. Based on these findings, it is recommended that appropriate consumer protection awareness on public health concerns through greater level of public campaigns on the dangerous effects of imported fake, substandard and illicit goods that are inimical to public health be aggressively launched. Increase government expenditure on health institutions, as well as judicious and efficient deployment of public and private resources to the health sector is also important to enhancing health outcomes in Nigeria. A strong institutional and regulatory environment to curtail illicit and nefarious importation of fake and substandard goods, particularly pharmaceuticals and food into the country is important, in addition to a sound and stable macroeconomic environment that is capable of promoting the public health status of the citizenry in Nigeria.

Keywords: Trade, Consumer Protection, Public Health, ECM, Nigeria

JEL Classification: F1, F18, D18, I12, I18

This research is going to investigate the relationship between financial ratios and dividend policy of the automotive companies in India during the period 2010 to 2021.

The Correlation, Regression, and Granger Causality Test has been used to identified the relationship between the dividend policy, liquidity, profitability and financial leverage of the Automotive Sector in India.

The result of the empirical analysis showed that company like Maruti Suzuki has a high and stable dividend policy among all other automotive companies the current ratio and debt equity ratio are significantly negatively correlated with dividend pay-out ratio. M&M shown a positive and significant relationship between dividend pay-out ratio, return on assets and return on equity. This indicated that these companies pay more dividend in case of more earnings. The result of the study has drawn a conclusion that dividend policy is a discrete decision of the management of the company. Few companies are considering factors like liquidity, leverage, return on assets and return on equity while deciding the dividend policy and some companies are considering stable dividend policy irrespective of the other mentioned factors.

Keywords: Liquidity, Profitability, Leverage, Dividend Policy.

JEL Classification Code: G11, G12, G18, G32, R32

This paper estimates economic growth of Botswana using Thirlwall's and the Extended Thirlwall's models for the period of 1980-2016. Parameters from the Thirlwall's model shows the calculated growth rate of 5.63 percent while the actual growth rate was 6.52%. These growth rates are very close to each other. This indicates that price and income elasticities of exports and imports influence Botswana's economic growth. Our empirical findings support those of Matsheka (1998). These empirical findings suggest that the Thirlwall's law holds in Botswana. i.e., Botswana's economic growth rate is balance of payments constrained. The Extended Thirlwall's model showed lower growth rate of 4.26% which is less than the actual growth rate. This suggested that the productivity factor has not played a significant role in the economic growth of Botswana. This might not be surprising. Botswana's economic growth is driven by the growth of diamonds exports where productivity might not be easily measured like in the manufacturing and services industries. These findings are in contrast to those of Romero and McCombie (2016) when investigating the impact of relative productivity growth on trade performance on developed countries. It is recommended that Botswana should improve her exports diversification strategies to increase economic growth without deteriorating her balance of payments.

Keywords: Growth; Thirlwall's Model; Balance of Payments; Elasticities; Botswana

JEL: F14; F43

This research examined the relationship between exports and economic growth in Africa. It employed many innovation econometric methods including Panel FMOLS and DOLS Estimates; Panel VECM; Panel ARDL Model; Pooled OLS, Random Effect Model, Fixed Effect Model and Hausman Test; Panel Pairwise Granger Causality Tests; Panel Toda-Yamamoto Causality Test; and Panel GMM Model. The findings suggested that the estimates of each model prove that there is a positive bidirectionnel relationship between exports and economic growth. Data includes 49 African countries for the period 1960-2018. These empirical results have some notable policy implications.