In order to accurately analyze the impact of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
development on economic growth in Africa, 51 African
countries were selected from the 5 sub-regions thus;
from the East, West, South, Central, and North Africa
within 20 years from 2000 to 2019.
Design/methodology/approach - The outcome of this
paper is measured by estimating pooled ordinary least
squares (POLS), random and fixed effects (RE & FE),
and system-generalized method of moment models (sysGMM). The individual internet users, mobile telephone
subscription and fixed telephone subscribers are the ICT
indicators with foreign direct investment, domestic
credit provided by the private sector, and level of
international trade serving as control variables. Findings
- The findings show that: (1) ICT development has a
statistically significant positive relationship with
economic growth, (2) that the three ICT indicators are
significantly different in their output determination, (3)
the findings confirm that the "leapfrogging" hypothesis
exists in the African context, (4) it is observed that
percentage of people using the internet has the immense
capacities to empower Africa to skip traditional
developmental stages across all the estimates, (5) and in
terms of the regressions for the sub-samples, it shows
statistically significant differences in the output elasticity
of ICT indicators. Suggestions - Based on the above
findings, we suggest that it is necessary to propose policy
recommendations to reduce costs caused by the use of
communication technology facilities, including the cost of
buying a cellular phone, Internet connectivity rates, and
subscription rates.
Keywords : Africa; Economic Growth; ICT; Impact; Leapfrogging