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DOES FDI REDUCE POVERTY IN AFRICA AND ARE THERE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES? By G. Gohou and I. Soumare. Second Congress of African Economists Abidjan. Côte d’Ivoire November 24-26, 2011. By Gaston GOHOU, PhD CESS Instittute Quebec, Canada. Outline. 1. Motivation.
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DOES FDI REDUCE POVERTY IN AFRICA ANDARE THERE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES?By G. Gohou and I. Soumare Second Congress of African Economists Abidjan. Côte d’Ivoire November 24-26, 2011 By Gaston GOHOU, PhD CESS Instittute Quebec, Canada
1. Motivation Apparent linkage between FDI and welfare … Africa: huge development gap FDI FDI Reduce poverty
Research questions • Relationship between net FDI inflows and poverty reduction in Africa and the impact of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) • Specific research questions: • Does FDI contribute to poverty reduction in Africa? • Are there any regional differences on the role of FDI on poverty reduction in Africa? • Are there any differences between Africa and other World regions on the role of FDI on poverty reduction?
Empirical analysis & results Regression model specification • Eq 1: • Eq 2: • Welfare is measured by HDI (alternatively real per capital GDP), • FDI is measured by per capita FDI (also use FDI/GDP or FDI/GCF), • Control variables: • Economic and policy variables, • Business environment and institutional quality variables, • Political risks variables.
RECs in Africa Africa map and regions
Q1: Does FDI contribute to poverty reduction? Strong positive relationship between FDI and welfare at the aggregate Africa level, Even after introducing economic & policy, business environment & institutional quality, & political risks control variables
Q2: Are there any regional differences in Africa on the role of FDI on poverty reduction? • At the regional level, the impact of FDI on welfare is no longer obvious and differs across regions. Central and East Africa RECs: FDI impacts positively and significantly welfare South and North Africa RECs: impact of FDI on welfare is non significant West Africa RECs: impact of FDI on welfare is ambiguous.
Q3: Are there any differences between Africa and 3 out-of-Africa regions on the role of FDI on poverty reduction? Comparison of Africa and ASEAN, Latin America and Europe transitional economies, shows that, unlike Africa, FDI does not have a positive significant impact on welfare in these 3 out-of-Africa RECs.
Conclusion FDI can contribute to countries development and poverty reduction in Africa, 2 policy recommendations: • Policies to attract FDI should be tailored on a regional basis and account for economic convergence within regions and differences between regions in order to be effective • FDI should be labor-intensiveand targets pro-poor sectors (agriculture, infrastructure,…)