Access to Electricity, Information and Communications Technology (Ict), and Financial Development: Evidence From West Africa

Abstract

Poor Access to electricity may hinder West African countries from raising levels of financial development with the aid of Information communication Technology (ICT). Using 16 West African countries, and data over the period of 2000 to 2017, this present study analyses the effect of greater access to electricity on financial development through ICT. ICT was measured using mobile use and internet use, while financial development was measured using private bank credit to GDP ratio and Broad Money Supply to GDP ratio. Panel data fixed effect instrumental variables estimation was used for analysis and the study found that access to electricity significantly boosts mobile use and internet use, while resulting from access to electricity mobile use significantly boosted both measures of financial development but internet use significantly reduced the measures. Further categorizing sample countries into Anglophone and Francophone West Africa countries, access to electricity through ICT boosted both measures of financial development for Francophone countries, while only boosting broad money supply to GDP ratio for Anglophone countries. Thus greater access to electricity through for example provision of electricity infrastructure and regulation of electricity charges to households and firms is important to boost levels of financial development in West Africa.

Using Logistic Regression to Predict Access to Essential Services: Electricity and Internet in Nouakchott, Mauritania

“…Understanding that Nouakchott's challenges are not isolated is crucial, as electricity and Internet access pose a persistent concern across the African continent [1,[16][17][18][19]26,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. With the world's lowest household electrification rate at just (26%), over (560) million peo-ple on the continent lack access to electricity [37], further compounded by the fact that more than (650) million individuals rely on low-quality biomass energy sources.…”

“…Alarmingly, approximately (85.1%) of households in Nouakchott lack access to the Internet, as revealed by [6]. Furthermore, access to electricity in Mauritania as a whole is limited, with only (33.47%) of the population having access, as reported by [36]. Notably, (14%) of firms consider electricity to be the most significant obstacle to business operations.…”

Do Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and financial development contribute to economic diversification? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

“…Economic diversification holds significant promise at boosting Africa's resilience, and aiding the achievement of economic development as well as its sustainment over the longer term on the African continent (OECD 2011). Robust and sustainable growth may be better generated by economies that have a wide array of sectors undertaking a broad range of activities.…”