Sub-Saharan Africa saw an increase in the use of mobile payments which contributed to significant, albeit uneven, digital growth in this sub-region, that is, according to the report released last week by the Fletcher School at Tufts University in the United States of America, entitled Digital in the time of COVID.
According to the report, Sub-Saharan African economies are in the midst of a mobile revolution, where mobile connections and mobile payments have increased across the African continent.
“More than 135 million mobile payment accounts were opened by consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2018 alone, and the region is responsible for more than a third of global mobile payments,” says the report.
The report argues that mobile Internet access and the mobile phone are just the first step in unlocking the benefits of digitization. An important lesson that the pandemic has offered is the quality of access.
Superior access, such as reliable terrestrial broadband and better devices - for example, laptops and tablets are best suited for learning and working - is a key input for economic resilience in a time of heavy reliance on digital technologies.
"The digital economies of Sub-Saharan Africa would do well to focus on improving access, accessibility and quality of the mobile internet and not lose sight of the need to invest in more broadband access and better devices to unlock the full potential of economic growth driven by scanningo, ”advances the report.
Another good news is that the mobile internet gap has contributed to the high momentum shown by Break Out economies, which are economies with a lower score in their current digitization states, but are evolving rapidly. Examples of emerging economies in Africa are Kenya, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana.
The strong momentum of emerging economies and their significant room for growth would make them highly attractive to innovators and investors, says the report. Emerging economies also exhibit some of the most optimistic attitudes towards digitization and technology.
The report notes that several medium-sized nations, including Kenya, Bangladesh and Rwanda, have used digital technologies to advance and transform their economies.
These advances are ideal models and benchmarks for other economies Watch Out on how to use the digital economy as a lever to create a radical change in their growth trajectory, says the report. Examples of vigilant economies in Africa are South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Ethiopia and Namibia.
Some recommendations
The report says that economies in sub-Saharan Africa were at a disadvantage during COVID-19, faced a particularly difficult choice as to the timing, depth and duration of the blocks and measures of social distance.
Although digital economies, such as Rwanda's, have not evolved enough to be a major source of resilience during roadblocks, they provide a light at the end of the tunnel for policymakers who are leaving COVID-19.
These rapidly evolving economies tend to have a lot in common: a young demographic increase, an increase in digital acceptance and an audience increasingly involved with digital. Policy makers in this region of the continent would do well to capitalize on that enthusiasm and look to digital as a way to boost economic growth in 2021 and beyond, the report says.
