Transformation digitale et transformation structurelle dans les économies d’Afrique Sub-Saharienne (ASS) : les effets variés des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC)

This article examines the various effects of ICTs on the structural transformation of African economies. It uses a dynamic panel model based on the method of generalized moments in a system applied to a sample of 30 Sub-Saharan African countries covering the period 1995 - 2018. While the results show that, overall, ICTs promote the development of manufacturing industries and offer opportunities to diversify exports, they also show that their expansion is weak due to infrastructural and institutional constraints. It therefore appears that fixed telephone subscriptions and Internet users are positively correlated with industrialization, while mobile telephone subscriptions are positively correlated with export diversification. Promoting the establishment of an integrated digital ecosystem therefore seems necessary to accelerate the structural transformation of all African economies south of the Sahara.