Digital connectivity is increasingly identified as one of the prominent sources of economic productivity and growth. This article studies the effect of digitalization on economic growth, on the one hand, in the six regions of the world (Africa, Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Arab States and CIS) during the period 1990–2023, and on the other hand, by focusing on 46 African developing countries during the period 2006–2023. For this purpose, we used a panel data analysis based on econometric techniques such as the GMM process.
The results obtained underlined a statistically significant link between digitalization and its impact on economic growth for some regions of the world, notably the Americas, the Arab States and the CIS. In contrast, for our sample of 46 African countries, the variables measuring digitalization have a mixed impact on the generation and sustainability of economic growth: the more investments and digitalization indicators progress, the more the variation in the economic growth rate decreases. On the other hand, more than the effects of digitalization, the degree of trade openness of developing countries remains strongly correlated with GDP per capita. These results are empirically validated and were compared with the results of other research, differentiating between regions and levels of economic income.
