Advancing digital economy in Africa: The role of critical enablers

Given the slow pace of digital economy in Africa, this study investigated the role of critical digital economy enablers in stimulating the growth of a digital economy in Africa. The paper employed the panel-correlated standard error (PCSE) and feasible generalized least square (FGLS) estimators to analyse relevant data of 37 African countries between 2009 and 2022. For a robust analysis, the sampled countries were grouped into different income groups. The results indicate that digital infrastructure enhances digital economy growth while economic policy uncertainty dampens it across the income groups. Further results reveal that human capital development accelerates digital economy growth in low-income countries while the different measure of institutional quality have heterogeneous impact on the growth of the digital economy in Africa. The paper concludes that African policymakers should design and implement policies that will promote significant investment in digital infrastructures and human capital, and provide a stable and predictable policy framework. The novelty of this paper is its assessmemt of the role of critical digital economy enablers across different income groups in Africa.