By Foday Moriba Conteh
In a bid to provide a national platform for academics, researchers, managers, policymakers and students to share their research findings with national and international experts, the Economic Association of Sierra Leone (EASL) has on Friday 19th August 2022 held its 1st Quarterly Brown Bag Seminar 2022 on the theme: “Developing a Culture of Discussing and Implementing Research Findings in Sierra Leone” during an event that took place at LACS Villa on King Harman Road in Freetown.
Speaking to Pressmen, the President of Economic Association of Sierra Leone, Dr. Brima IB Kargbo gave a brief statement of the association of which he said it is a non-profit making oriented and apolitical professional association, without nationalistic bias ,charged with the responsibility of unearthing solutions to social and economic problems using economic tools.
He added that the mission of the association is to actively engage in economic and social research leading to the general advancement of the Sierra Leonean economy with a vision to become the national centre of excellence in research provoking informed judgment on the ups and downs of the Sierra Leonean Economy.
Dr. Brima IB Kargbo pointed out that early this year the association invited Researchers and Policymakers to submit research papers for their inaugural Quarterly Brown Bag Seminar relating to any area of economics, including theoretical, empirical and conceptual papers.
He maintained that the Quarterly Brown Bag Seminar is geared towards providing a national platform for academics, researchers, managers, policymakers and students to share their research findings with national and international experts.
The President revealed that after they have shared theses of research findings with national and international experts the association is not only to leave them in the form of papers but rather intend to disseminate the information to the Monitoring Policy Authority at the Central Bank and the Physical Policy Authority at the Ministry of Finance for implementation.
During the event, four researchers presented papers and they include, Ezekiel K. Duramany Lakkoh, Department of Management Science, Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) who presented a paper on the: “A Granger Causality Test on the Impact of Public Debt on the Economic Growth of Sierra Leone”.
Alpha Umaru Bah presented a paper on: “Supply Chains under Covid-19 Disruptions: Literature Review and Research Agenda.”
Dr. Brima IB Kargbo, the President of Economic Association of Sierra Leone, also presented a paper on the : “Dropping the Zeros: Between Hope and Reality for Sierra Leone: A Critical Review of the Literature”.
After each presentation, members from the audience had the opportunity to ask questions followed by an evaluation based on originality, technical and/or research depth, accuracy and relevance by Alieu Sesay, former Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority.
All the four presenters were given Cheques and Certificates by the Economic Society of Sierra Leone.
