Françoise Okah Efogo

L’objectif de cet article est d’analyser les forces, les faiblesses, les opportunités et les menaces des monnaies numériques décentralisées en Afrique, une région qui sert d’incubateur pour les innovations dans le secteur de la finance décentralisée, mais qui sur ces mêmes questions, demeure relativement en marge du champ de la recherche académique. En plus de dresser un panorama assez complet de l’état actuel du marché des cryptomonnaies (notamment en ce qui concerne les catégories et les technologies sous-jacentes), cet article s’appuie sur une analyse SWOT qui permet de dégager des enseignements et des perspectives de long terme, tout en respectant la diversité des préoccupations locales et internationales. Il en ressort que la popularité des BASI-coins s’est bâtie sur une triple illusion : celle de la désintermédiation, celle de la sécurité et celle de l’indépendance : les mineurs sont incontournables et les oligopoles se reconstituent dans la cryptosphère qui, de ce point de vue, ne diffère pas de la finance traditionnelle. En outre, même si le cadre macro-financier des pays africains semble de facto se prêter à l’adoption des cryptomonnaies et que cette dernière offre des opportunités en termes d’inclusion et d’innovation dans la sphère financière, un usage efficient des monnaies numériques nécessite de relever plusieurs défis ; tant sur les plans infrastructurel (accès à l’électricité/Internet) et technologique qu’institutionnel. Par ailleurs, les BASI-coins pourraient faire concurrence aux (futurs) monnaies numériques souveraines (Govcoins) et leur adoption généralisée pourrait déstabiliser les systèmes financiers en raison d’une pression sur les réserves de change.

This paper proposes a reflection on the opportunities and the challenges of the use of digital means of payment (decentralised and regulated ones) in the African economies. In this perspective, we structure our reasoning around three axes. First, we try to show that digital currencies can serve as a lever for financial inclusion and the revolution of means of payment in an increasingly digitalization context. Second, we discuss the technical and the infrastructural constraints (deployment of the blockchain, electricity and Internet access) which condition the effective use of digital currencies. Third, we discuss the trade-offs and the possible implications that arise from the circulation of the Bitcoin, the Altcoins and the Stablecoins on the one hand, and the Govcoins on the other. In our view, the African authorities should first focus on overcoming infrastructural and institutional obstacles, rather than rushing the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Some policies implemented in this direction would in fact offer the continent the opportunity to anchor itself once and for all to progress. Classification JEL : D73, E00, E58, G18, O33, O55

Purpose: This paper appraises the effects of monetary policy on trade in value-added (TiVA) using a panel of 38 developing countries spanning the period 1990 to 2019. Specifically, the authors subsequently summon the theory of trade in intermediate products within the New Keynesian framework for open economies that comprises price rigidity to verify this relationship and thereon control for robustness by correcting for endogeneity and unbalanced panel effect.Design/methodology/approach: The authors mobilize the within estimator corrected for cross sectional dependence as well as the two-stage-least squares fixed effect estimator which corrects for endogeneity. For robustness, the authors also use the Hausman–Taylor estimator to control for endogeneity and random effects in annualized data and the least squares dummy variable corrected estimator.Findings: Results suggest that the monetary policy instruments such as inflationary gaps and anticipatory inflationary outcomes significantly affect TiVA in developing countries only in the short term with no long-term effect. In addition to contributing to the scanty empirical literature, the authors provide relevant insights on monetary policy tools that can be mobilized in fashioning a global value chain penetration and upgrading strategies.Originality/value: The authors convoke the theory of trade in intermediate products casted into the New Keynesian framework comprising price rigidity to verify the relationship between TiVA and monetary policy (b) verify for robustness by correcting for endogeneity and unbalanced panel effect.

This study investigates how foreign direct investment (FDI) affects the participation of developing countries in global value chains (GVCs). This inquiry is crucial as FDI is seen, at least theoretically, as a means of expediting developing countries’ participation in GVCs in some ways. It provides empirical evidence of this nexus between FDI and GVC using a dynamic panel data model including 43 developing countries (2010–2019). Our results show, among other things, that FDI has a significantly positive effect on the participation of developing countries in GVCs. This is found to be the case regardless of whether the FDI is in the primary, secondary or tertiary sector. However, to benefit fully requires policymakers to strengthen the absorptive capacity of the local labour force (productivity and education level).

This research documents facts and offers an empirical appraisal of the contribution of trade in services for African participation in global value chains. It adopts a comparative approach among flows, service categories and positions in a global value chain, using data for a panel of 36 sub‐Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2017. The empirical analysis, using generalized method of moments in system, leads to three main results on the trade in services and global value chain nexus in Africa. First, the relationship is linear and positive. Secondly, exportations of services have a lower effect than importations of services, whatever the position in a global value chain. Thirdly, some services have a positive outcome on both backward and forward participation in global value chains, while others have a one‐sided effect. Those results give African countries tools to set a comprehensive and rationalized strategy to deepen and upgrade their participation in global value chains using trade in services.