Download or read book The Macroeconomic Impacts of Digitalization in Sub Saharan Africa Evidence from Submarine Cables written by Felix F. Simione and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-04-29 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Macroeconomic Impacts of Digitalization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Submarine Cables

Download or read book Digital Connectivity in sub Saharan Africa A Comparative Perspective written by Mr.Emre Alper and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-09-27 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Higher digital connectivity is expected to bring opportunities to leapfrog development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Experience within the region demonstrates that if there is an adequate digital infrastructure and a supportive business environment, new forms of business spring up and create jobs for the educated as well as the less educated. The paper first confirms the global digital divide through the unsupervised machine learning clustering K-means algorithm. Next, it derives a composite digital connectivity index, in the spirit of De Muro-Mazziotta-Pareto, for about 190 economies. Descriptive analysis shows that majority of SSA countries lag in digital connectivity, specifically in infrastructure, internet usage, and knowledge. Finally, using fractional logit regressions we document that better business enabling and regulatory environment, financial access, and urbanization are associated with higher digital connectivity.

Download or read book Telecommunication Submarine cable Deployment and the Digital Divide in Sub Saharan Africa written by Joël Cariolle and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent deployment of fibre-optic submarine cables (SMCs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) raised the prospects for the digital economy expansion and the whole sub-continent take-off, but also exposed countries and populations to new sources of vulnerability. This paper provides empirical evidence on the ambivalent effect of SMC deployment on the digital divide in 46 SSA countries. On the one hand, results show that the laying of SEACOM, MainOne and EASSy cables in 2009-2010 has yielded a three percentage points increase in internet penetration rates. This is a huge increase, meaning that the deployment of these cables has almost doubled the penetration of Internet in the sub-continent's population. On the other hand, exogenous sources of telecommunication disruptions related to SMC laying - the country's exposure to SMC outages and digital isolation - are found to reduce internet and mobile penetration rates, to lower investments in ICTs, and to increase mobile-cellular tariffs and the wireline network instability. Therefore, while SMC arrival in SSA has reduced the digital divide, this divide would be lower if SSA countries were less digitally vulnerable.

Download or read book Bridging the Mobile Digital Divide in Sub Saharan Africa Costing under Demographic Change and Urbanization written by Mr.Emre Alper and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Digital connectivity, including through the modern cellular network technologies, is expected to play a key role for the Future of Work in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We estimate the cost of introducing a full-scale 4G network by 2025 in SSA and an operable 5G network by 2040. We adapt the costing model of Lombardo (2019) by accounting for the significant demographic transformation and rapid urbanization in SSA. We use the WorldPop and GADM databases and the UN’s medium-variant population projections to project the population densities at the highest level of administrative division for each SSA country in 2025 and 2040. For full 4G connectivity, the required capital and operational costs stands approximately at US$14 billion by 2025 and for 5G connectivity, costs amount to US$57 billion in 2040, conditional on having the 4G in place by 2025. These costs roughly translate to 8.4 percent of annual subscriber income, on a median basis, by 2025 for 4G and 4.9 percent of subscriber income by 2040 for 5G. Having the infrastructure in place is not sufficient to bridge the mobile Digital Divide. In addition, policies are needed to address affordability and knowledge gaps.

Download or read book A Conceptual Policy Framework for Leveraging Digitalization to Support Diversification in Sub Saharan Africa written by Mame Astou Diouf and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2024-06-21 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The need for Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to diversify their economies is more urgent than ever. However, despite its established economic benefits, several challenges have precluded diversification in SSA. Against this backdrop, interesting initiatives to further adopt digital technologies, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggest that digitalization is a promising avenue to overcome barriers to diversification. Fast-paced advances in the diffusion of digital technologies and knowledge have the potential to transform SSA economies through several channels. By connecting people and facilitating the rapid diffusion of information, digitalization also promises to reshape the industrial structure of activities in new and unprecedented ways. Therefore, digitalization has the potential to promote diversification and growth in SSA by acting both as an enabler and driver of economic activities, helping support resilience. Yet, while the empirical literature on SSA suggests that digitalization can provide new opportunities for growth, employment, productivity, and inclusion, the impact on diversification has not been studied. This paper aims to fill this important gap in the literature. It also aims to strengthen IMF engagement with SSA policy makers by providing a conceptual policy framework, encompassing both horizontal and sectoral policies, on how to leverage digitalization to support diversification and boost resilience in a post-COVID world.

Download or read book Central Bank Digital Currency and Other Digital Payments in Sub Saharan Africa written by Mr. Luca A Ricci and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2024-03-27 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Fintech Note reports key findings from the Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Digital Payments Survey, shedding light on the motivations, benefits, and challenges of CBDC adoption, as well as the developments of digital private money and crypto assets in sub-Saharan Africa. It emphasizes the pivotal role of collaboration and shared knowledge in navigating the intricate landscape of digital currencies and assets in sub-Saharan Africa. As this evolving digital frontier is explored, the experiences and aspirations of the region’s central banks, as expressed in the survey, will help harness the potential for digital currencies, assets, and payments, and foster cooperation among countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A forthcoming IMF Departmental Paper will focus on key issues for countries in sub-Saharan Africa pertaining to CBDCs, private digital payments, and crypto assets. It will provide a deeper discussion of the benefits, costs, and risks of these digital payment systems and present policy options to enhance financial digital development and inclusion, while safeguarding macroeconomic and financial stability.

Download or read book Digitalization and Gender Equality in Political Leadership in Sub Saharan Africa written by Diego B. P. Gomes and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2023-06-09 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine the impact of digitalization on people’s perceptions of women as political leaders in 34 Sub-Saharan African countries. We find that being a social media or internet user is linked to a higher likelihood of people supporting gender equality in political leadership. However, the intensive margin of usage does not appear to be significant. Furthermore, women’s perceptions of gender equality in political leadership are more sensitive to internet and social media use than men’s. The paper recommends policies for improving ICT infrastructure and investing in technological education.

Download or read book Echoes Across Borders written by Hany Abdel-Latif and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2024-05-17 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper quantifies the macroeconomic spillover effects of conflict within sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using a new Conflict Spillover Index (CSI), which accounts for conflict intensity and distance from conflict-affected countries. Our findings reveal an escalation in conflict spillovers across SSA since 2011, marked by considerable cross-country heterogeneity. Impulse responses show that conflict spillovers shocks significantly and persistently hinder economic growth, while concurrently elevating inflation in the “home” country. Conflict spillover shocks are also associated with increases in (current) government spending and government debt. Furthermore, the international trade transmission channel of spillovers operates mostly through increased imports, while negative effects on FDI winddown over time. Moreover, state-dependent impulse responses underscore the importance of good governance, fiscal space, and foreign aid in attenuating the adverse macroeconomic spillover effects of conflict. The detrimental impact of conflict on output is more severe in environments with weaker governance and limited fiscal space. Government expenditures tend to rise following a spillover shock in contexts of high governmental effectiveness, possibly reflecting the use of policy buffers to respond to shocks. In that context, the papers shed light on important factors to promote resilience in SSA economies.

Download or read book Can Digitalization Help Deter Corruption in Africa written by Rasmané Ouedraogo and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper studies the effect of digitalization on the perception of corruption and trust in tax officials in Africa. Using individual-level data from Afrobarometer surveys and several indices of digitalization, we find that an increase in digital adoption is associated with a reduction in the perception of corruption and an increase in trust in tax officials. Exploiting the exogeneous deployment of submarine cables at the local level, the paper provides evidence of a negative impact of the use of Internet on the perception of corruption. Yet, the paper shows that the dampening effect of digitalization on corruption is hindered in countries where the government has a pattern of intentionally shutting down the Internet, while countries that successfully promote information and communication technology (ICT) enjoy a more amplified effect.

Download or read book Effects of Macroeconomic Stability on Growth Savings and Investment in Sub Saharan Africa written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Digitalization in MENA and Sub Saharan Africa written by İzak Atiyas and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Technological Progress and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa written by Ficawoyi Donou-Adonsou and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper investigates the impact of telecommunications infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. We use the World Development Indicators database and apply the instrumental variable-generalized method of moments to a panel of 47 countries over the period 1993-2012. The results show that the Internet and mobile phones have contributed to economic growth. A one percentage point increase in Internet and mobile phone usage raises growth by 0.12 and 0.03 percentage points, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that the development of telecommunications infrastructure fosters economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.With much room for potential growth enhancement of telecommunications infrastructure, policies to expand access or reduce cost should be strongly encouraged by African governments, particularly as far as the Internet is concerned.

Download or read book Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa written by Bruce Mutsvairo and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-09 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite issues associated with the digital divide, mobile telephony is growing on the continent and the rise of smartphones has given citizens easy access to social networking sites. But the digital divide, which mostly reflects on one's race, gender, socioeconomic status or geographical location, stands in the way of digital progress. What opportunities are available to tame digital disparities? How are different societies in Africa handling digital problems? What innovative methods are being used to provide citizens with access to critical information that can help improve their lives? Experiences from various locations in several sub-Saharan African countries have been carefully selected in this collection with the aim of providing an updated account on the digital divide and its impact in Africa.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Shocks and Trade Flows Within Sub Saharan Africa written by Tamim A. Bayoumi and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Effects of macroeconomic stability on growth saving and investment in sub Saharan Africa written by Fondo Monetario Internacional and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book BRIDGING THE MOBILE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA written by C. Emre Alper and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Information Communications Technology and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa written by Haftu girmay Giday and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research empirically analyzed the impact of mobile phone and the Internet in SubSaharan Africa (SSA) for the period of 2006-2015 using unbalanced panel data of 40 countries. We have employed the robust two-step system GMM. Results showed that growth in mobile phone penetration has contributed significantly to the GDP per capita of the region after controlling for a number of other variables. A 10% increase in mobile phone penetration results in a 1.2% change in real GDP per capita. Therefore, improving access to mobile phones will play a critical role in reducing the poverty level of the region through raising the per capita income of the population.However, the Internet has not contributed to the per capita GDP during the study period.The insignificant impact of the Internet could be due to low penetration of the technology, low ICT skill of Internet users, lack of or insufficient local content on the global network, the relatively immature state of the technology in the region, and a possible misuse of it. Therefore, governments and other stakeholders should design policies that encourage expansion of the Internet until a critical mass of users is achieved. In addition to improving Internet access, policies which focus on ICT skill development and local content creation should also be designed and implemented.Donors and the international community should also give their support directly to those startups which focus on local content production and distribution.