ABSTRACT
The indicator of bankruptcy exposure for airport operations in Malaysia is calculated by using Altman's Z'-score. Financial and non-financial attributes related to the bankruptcy exposure show multicollinearity, and the redundant information was identified and removed. The common period for the variables is from 1999-2021, which includes the period of COVID-19 pandemic. Models with a combination of financial and non-financial attributes further reduce the deviation between the estimated standard deviation of the residuals and the marginal standard deviation of the bankruptcy risk in comparison to models without the combination. The best model provides improvements in terms of the mean of the absolute errors (MAE), mean of absolute percentage errors (MAPE), and mean absolute scaled errors (MASE). Furthermore, all determinants in the best model are statistically significant. We suggest that the opportunity for optimisation, including total movements of passenger, cargo and mail, could reduce the company's bankruptcy exposure. Findings indicate that reducing the financial leverage could improve the financial distress risk while liquidity, net operating margin, and asset turnover are positively contributed to the financial stability of the largest airport operator in Malaysia. If the marginal average of annual exposures to bankruptcy of 4.04% continues linearly into the future, the company is expected to transition from being financially stable to experiencing financial distress in 2030. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Authorities have suggested emergency remote instruction to guarantee that students are not left idle during the pandemic due to the sudden closing of educational facilities. Then for the time being, traditional methods (face-to-face) have been replaced by Open and Distance Learning (ODL). Face-to-face learning was preferred by the majority of students over online learning since students were not able transit to online learning and lacked inspiration. Hence, this study focuses on perception towards ODL during COVID-19 among statistics' students at FSKM UiTM Shah Alam based on some impeding factors such as social issue, lecturer issue, accessibility issue, academic issue, generic skills and learner intentions. The aim of this study is to investigate the perception of statistics' students on ODL based on impeding factors and to identify the significant impeding factors effect on statistics students' perception on ODL. There are 160 observations that are used in this study. The methods that are being used in this study are descriptive analysis and logistic regression. Overall, from the result obtained, students' perception on ODL are approximately to agree for social issue, academic issue and learner intentions variables. Meanwhile, the significance impeding factors in this study are social issue and learner intentions. This study may help higher education institution to improve and make a better strategy to improve the existing teaching method that have been applied by all lecturers. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The study uses wavelet power spectrum and wavelet coherence transformation methodologies to examine how geopolitical risk affected the returns on stocks, oil, and gold during the GFC, COVID-19, and Russia-Ukraine war-three disruptive events that affected the world's financial markets. For better diversification benefits during the turbulent times, we further investigate the degree of co-movement in frequency and time domains. We observe that GPR has high variations during Russia-Ukraine war period compared to COVID-19 period and is shown to have least variation during the GFC period. WTI crude oil and DJGI indexes are observed to have high variations during GFC, and COVID-19 periods followed by Russia-Ukraine war. We further observe that GOLD offers better diversification opportunity as well as leading movement against WTI and DJGI during disruptive events in financial markets. The results provide new understanding of how geopolitical risk affects financial assets for international investors, fund managers, and regulators, which would further aid to find risky and safer haven possibilities during the turmoil periods. © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
ABSTRACT
The importance of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in economic development and their access to finance post-COVID-19 has been highlighted in this study. The availability of finance is a critical factor for MSMEs to flourish, and they are mostly severely affected by the economic recession. The purpose of this study was to ascertain how the firm-specific factors such as Location, Industry, Size, Age, Ownership, Collaterals, and Business information affect their access to finance in India. This study used a survey to collect primary data from 200 MSMEs in India. Descriptive and logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results show that firms with collateral, larger and older firms, and private limited firms are less likely to face problems in raising finance, while service firms are more likely to face problems in raising finance. The results from this study will add to the understanding of the financing problems faced by MSMEs in India. The study recommends that firm attributes are important for accessing finance and help policymakers and researchers develop new strategies and policies to support the financing of MSMEs in India. © 2022 Uddin et al.
ABSTRACT
The paper aims to evaluate the reaction of stock markets in BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses ARCH and GARCH models that use daily stock prices from January 1, 2020, to September 2, 2020. The financial market response was analyzed in two phases. The first phase analyses the financial markets' response within 30 to 60 days from the first day of confirmed cases of COVID-19. The second phase analyses the financial market response post 30 to 60 days of initial confirmed cases. The study results conclude that the share prices decreased, but in the second phase, the markets responded positively. Our results conclude that governmental support played an important role in mitigating the repercussions of the COVID-19 outbreak on stock markets in BRICS countries.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: There are reports of changes in the numbers of stroke admissions and time intervals to receiving emergency treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the stroke thrombolysis rate and delay to thrombolysis treatment in a regional stroke centre in London, UK. Methods: COVID-19 testing began at our hospital on 3 March 2020. Clinical data for all acute stroke admissions were routinely collected as part of a national Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) and all thrombolysis data were entered into our local thrombolysis database. We retrospectively extracted the relevant patient data for the period of March to May 2020 (COVID group) and compared to the same period in 2019 (pre-COVID group). Results: Compared with pre-COVID, there was a 17.5% fall in total stroke admissions (from 315 to 260) during COVID;but there were no significant differences in the demographics, stroke severity, proportions with known time of onset, or median onset-to-arrival time. The thrombolysis rates amongst ischemic strokes were not significantly different between the two groups (59/260=23% pre- COVID vs. 41/228=18% COVID, p=.19). For thrombolysis patients, their stroke severity and demographics were similar between the two both groups. Median onset-to-needle time was significantly longer by 22 minutes during COVID [127 (IQR 94-160) vs. 149 (IQR 110-124) minutes, p=.045];this delay to treatment was almost entirely due to a longer median onset-to-arrival time by 16 minutes during COVID (p=.029). Favorable early neurological outcomes post-thrombolysis (defined as an improvement in NIHSS by ≥4 points at 24 hours) were similar (45% vs. 46%, p=.86). Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on prehospital delays which in turn significantly increased onset-to-needle time, but without affecting the chance of a favorable early neurological outcome. Our data highlight the need to maintain public awareness of taking immediate action when stroke symptoms occur during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
This research aims to investigate the impact of falling oil prices at the beginning of 2020 on 82 industrial companies listed on the GCC stock markets. The research sample period is divided into two periods pre-COVID and during COVID covering the period starting 1st January 2020 to May 15, 2020. The research uses the Panel Least Square (PLS) method and Panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) with fixed and random effects in each country. The results of GMM models reveal a positive relationship between oil prices and the share prices of industrial companies in the Gulf countries, which confirms that the share prices of industrial companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been negatively affected by the decline in oil prices with the beginning of 2020. The findings show that the highest impact of falling oil prices has been recorded in the industrial companies in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, the falling of oil prices does not have a significant effect on industrial companies in the state of Qatar. The research results suggest that GCC economies have to move on the path of non-reliance on Oil and gas-driven economy. © Copyright: The Author(s) This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.