Qaisar Ali

The outbreak of Covid-19 is the second most devastating event over a century. The pandemic, alongside deep health crises, has ushered the largest economic shocks, which require governments’ attention to ameliorate to avoid an economic downturn. The aim of this study is to measure the economic impacts of Covid-19 in Brunei by estimating the exposure, vulnerability, and resilience of the economy. This study deployed the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction framework to examine the economic impact empirically. The data related to variables of gross domestic product, oil prices, international merchandise trade, tourism, unemployment, consumer price index, money supply, and national accounts were collected from September 2019 to July 2020 and analyzed through the fixed effects panel regression technique. The findings show that the news of the Covid-19 outbreak has exposed the weaknesses in energy sectors by having a significant negative impact. Additionally, analysis discloses that the energy and tourism sectors are vulnerable to the shocks of Covid-19. During the peak of the pandemic outbreak, unemployment in Brunei has also escalated. Additionally, the energy and tourism sectors are less resilient to pandemic shocks. The findings indicated that the consumer price index has significantly escalated during the economic recovery process. The findings elucidate that the overall GDP growth rate, international merchandise trade, and the financial sector continue exhibiting better performance amid Covid-19. The findings of this study contribute to developing policy implications for the emerging economies concerned with the economic recovery process during the pandemic.

The banking sector is at risk of worsening loan quality, which is a major threat to the financial system’s stability. The impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is empirically investigated in this study. The data from 2008 to 2017 are collected and analyzed through the ordinary least squares (OLS) technique. The findings reveal that FDI inflows reduced the size of NPLs during the economic crisis. Also, the combined effect of higher FDI inflows and bank efficiency reduced the size of NPLs for banks, while the combined effect of FDI inflows and better institutions, such as strong regulatory quality, did not reduce the size of NPLs but rather increased the size of NPLs. The findings have implications and contribute to the literature to establish a relationship between FDI inflows and NPLs by examining the relationship between FDI inflows and NPLs in the context of banks in the UAE.

Safety climate can be regarded as a summary of moral perceptions that employees share about their work environments. This study explores the attitude of employees (working on production sites) towards the safety climate of a manufacturing firm producing medical equipment located in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). The data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire from 30 employees working in the manufacturing section of Setia Tek Limited. All the responses from open-ended questionnaires were analyzed descriptively and interpretively simultaneously using a thematic content analysis method. The findings indicate that the overall perception of the majority (67%) of employees about safety climate is positive. The research findings further reveal that majority of employees share a common understanding of the significance of the managerial strategies in business operations. With regard to the contribution of dimensions to shaping safety climate perceptions, the analysis reveals that all nine dimensions (safety concept, risks associated with daily work, cause of accidents, safety policies, regulations, and procedures, balance productivity goals and safety goals, commitment of the upper management, commitment of the immediate supervisor/ manager, commitment of employees, adequate training and competency, disciplinary actions for safety violations, accident investigations) positively contribute to employees’ safety perceptions.