Africa wants to leverage digital technologies to accelerate its economic growth. For that purpose, countries are acting together for more efficiency.

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) will adopt a Regional Program for the Development of the Digital Economy (PRDEN). This is one of the decisions approved by the member countries’ Ministers of Digital Economy when they met in Cotonou, Benin, last Friday.

The XOF121 billion (US$190 million) program -deemed ambitious and innovative- aims to boost the digitalization of socioeconomic activities in the community.

"We started with pilot projects, extending resources to member countries under the program for the installation of digital boxes and the digitization of public services,” indicated Abosse Akue-Kpakpo, the WAEMU commission’s head of digital economy. He added that the commission has already funded the elaboration of a legislative and regulatory framework, which is being submitted to member countries for approval, to improve governance.  

According to Abosse Akue-Kpakpo, in recent years, West Africa has made remarkable efforts for the development of its digital economy.  In a video published earlier this year, the WAEMU informs that nearly 94% of the zone has a mobile cellular subscription and nearly 40% have access to the internet. More than 80 million mobile money accounts are active in the region, representing 63% of the population. The mobile money accounts carry out over 2.7 billion transactions for a cumulative annual value of XAF29 trillion+ (more than US$47 billion).

The PRDEN, through its four main axes, intends to strengthen digital governance, improve access to digital services, promote innovation and research and boost the digital services offering.

The program will run from 2023 to 2027, with the expectation that it would help digitize 120 public services in the WAEMU member countries.  To raise the funds required for its implementation from financial partners, a roundtable will be organized in the second quarter of 2023.

At the end of the meeting held on November 11, 2022, the participating parties also approved the draft decision on the establishment of the Commission of Digital Regulators and the draft directive for the improvement of mass adoption of digital technologies.

Samira Njoya