This study assesses the speed of real convergence in ECOWAS using the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) theory to determine the readiness of member countries for a monetary union. The study leveraged on Bayoumi and Eichengreen (1996) and computed OCA indices utilizing both variables suggested by the...

WAMZ countries have accumulated high levels of public debt less than two decades after the massive debt forgiveness effected under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. This has raised sustainability concerns as rising debt levels have the potential to create negative spillover...

Countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are heterogeneous, characterized by marked differences in production and export structures, divergent levels of inflation rates and fiscal positions. These features suggest that there is a greater tendency for the transmission...

While the relationship between inflation and relative price variability (RPV) has been widely investigated in developed and emerging market economies because of its direct relevance to monetary policy implementation, research has neglected this linkage in most developing countries especially in...

Achieving fiscal convergence between countries of a monetary union helps in the design and implementation of policies to strengthen macroeconomic convergence, which mitigates the contagion effects of macroeconomic instability and ensures the long-term viability of the proposed union. This paper...

This study examined the short-run and long-run effects of real exchange rate changes on the Nigeria's trade balance. The paper employed both linear and non-linear ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration to test for the J-curve phenomenon in Nigeria using quarterly data spanning the period...

It has been established in the literature that volatility of stock returns exhibits complex properties of not only volatility clustering, but also long memory, regime change, and substantial outliers during turbulent and calm periods. Hence, this paper seeks to analyze volatility spillover,...

The increasing uncertainties about the evolving pattern of the novel COVID-19 virus in the absence of a vaccine and the dampening economic effects associated with the containment measures, which have triggered a sharp fall in global commodity prices have raised concerns among policymakers in the...