Publication: Equatorial Guinea Digital Economy Diagnostic
Loading...
Date
2024-05-22
ISSN
Published
2024-05-22
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report provides an assessment of Equatorial Guinea’s digital economy, as part of the World Bank’s Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) initiative. Prepared to support the implementation of the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, approved by the African Union in February 2020, the World Bank’s DE4A Initiative aims to help drive Africa’s digital transformation and sets out a bold vision to ensure that every African individual, business and government is digitally enabled by 2030. The initiative leverages an integrated and foundation-based diagnostic framework to examine the development of the digital economy across Africa. Based on this framework, this assessment provides a comprehensive overview of the five DE4A foundational elements in Equatorial Guinea: digital infrastructure, digital public platforms, digital financial services, digital businesses and digital skills.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2024. Equatorial Guinea Digital Economy Diagnostic. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41585 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Digital Economy for Latin America and the Caribbean - Country Diagnostic(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-21)This report analyzes the current state of, challenges to, and opportunities for the development of a digital economy and proposes six policy priorities for the Government of Colombia (GoC). The report is based on the World Bank’s Digital Economy Assessment methodology, which analyzes the digital economy across six pillars or foundational elements: digital infrastructure, digital platforms, digital financial services, digital businesses, digital skills, and trust environment.Publication Digital Economy for Latin America and the Caribbean - Country Diagnostic: Ecuador(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-02-12)Ecuador has made significant progress on the adoption of digital technologies over the past decade. Despite these advances, millions of Ecuadorians, particularly those in rural areas, continue to be excluded from the digital economy because of affordability constraints, uneven infrastructure, and gaps in digital skills. Accelerating the adoption of digital technologies and addressing inequities in digital access can help Ecuador achieve its development goals. This report provides recommendations to support the effective implementation of Ecuador’s Digital Transformation Agenda 2022–2025. Universal internet access and digital transformation can help the country promote productivity and competitiveness in the non-extractive sectors, foster sustainable growth, create better jobs, and bridge inequalities, particularly the urban-rural divide as concerns the indigenous populations. The government’s commitment to digital transformation to address its development challenges is evident in the newly passed agenda, which includes digital infrastructure as axis number one. This report provides Ecuadorian authorities with recommendations for implementing the agenda across six pillars: digital infrastructure, digital public platforms, digital financial services, digital businesses, digital skills, and the trust environment. Key recommendations include legal and regulatory reforms to address affordability barriers to internet access, foster fintech and e-commerce ecosystems, and enhance cybersecurity. Ecuador’s digital transformation will also require investments in fixed and mobile infrastructure and international bandwidth, as well as in digital public platforms, to improve user experience and interoperability. Guiding student progress in digital skills from primary to higher education and digitizing government payments are also key reform areas.Publication Leveraging High Technology to Drive Innovation and Competitiveness and Build the Sri Lankan Knowledge Economy(World Bank, 2009-06-01)This study was done at an opportune time in Sri Lanka's history: with end of the war there is hope for the country's peace, prosperity, and growth. To encourage economic growth, this study examines how high technology can drive competitiveness in key export-oriented industries and help build a strong Sri Lankan knowledge economy. The study examines global experience from economies around the world, but particularly several in Southeast Asia, to provide guidance on the role of national governments in enabling the development of a high-tech export sector and the application of high technologies in domestic production. More specifically, it reviews public policies, strategies, and investments in comparable countries that have been successful in promoting the absorption and use of high technologies for competitiveness, and applies lessons to Sri Lanka.Publication Guinea-Bissau Digital Economy Diagnostic(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022)Many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, including Guinea-Bissau, lack the requisite enabling environment to capture a larger fraction of the global digital economy or benefit from its gains and are thus at increasing risk of being left behind. Rapid digital transformation is reshaping the global economy, driving financing inclusion, closing information gaps between buyers and sellers, and changing the way economies of scale are achieved. In many, although certainly not all, parts of the continent, access to and affordability of broadband internet remains low; for that matter, even access to electricity is low, preventing Africans from being able to go online. Most public services remain offline, and many Africans lack digital identity or mobile wallets to take advantage of digital financial or other services. Digital skills and literacy remain weak. Finally, although venture capital investment on the continent continues to grow, 2021 witnessed 681 rounds of fundraising across 640 startups, totaling US5.2 billion dollars in equity raised, according to the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, structural constraints prevent businesses from taking greater advantage of the digital economy. Of the 716 financial technology (fintech) companies currently operating in SSA, only 5 percent have scaled. In this context, the WBG has undertaken this digital economy diagnostic of Guinea-Bissau under the leadership of the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the Vice Prime Minister. Based on desk research, virtual and in person interviews with a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders, and an April 2022 field mission to discuss preliminary findings and proposed recommendations, this report analyzes the constraints in each of the five foundational pillar and puts forward actionable recommendations categorized by priority level and sequencing. Overall, it aims to inform the national dialogue, as well as next steps, around Guinea-Bissau’s digital transformation, a policy agenda in which the Government of Guinea Bissau (GoGB) has expressed keen interest.Publication Guinea : Basic Agricultural Public Expenditure Diagnostic Review (2003-2012), Main Report(Washington, DC, 2013-11)The Guinean government assigns a crucial role to agriculture in accelerating growth, reducing poverty, and creating jobs. This role is inscribed in Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 3, which was approved by the government in May 2013, following PRSP 2 (2007-2010) and PRSP 1 (2002-2006). As part of the revival of its agricultural development strategy, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture expressed its desire for an agricultural public expenditure review to be carried out in order to learn from past experience and to improve performance in the medium term. This request was accepted by the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency. The cost of this review was met by the strengthening national comprehensive agricultural public expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa program and co-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the CAADP Multi-Donor Trust Fund. The goals of the 2003-2012 agricultural public expenditure review in Guinea are as follows: gain a better understanding of the country's performance in the context of the 2003 Maputo declaration; seek and recommend corrective actions for existing programs and suggest appropriate actions for future programs with a view to improving their impact and making them more efficient and equitable; and increase the visibility of the government and the DPs over the sector's absorptive capacity so that the decision may be made to allocate more resources to agricultural development.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication The Role of Desalination in an Increasingly Water-Scarce World(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-03)The cost of desalination has been plummeting over the years. As a result, desalination has become a viable option for certain strategic uses. Today, over 20,000 desalination plants in more than 150 countries supply about 300 million people with freshwater every day. Initially a niche product for energy rich and water scarce cities, particularly in the Middle East, the continued decrease in cost and environmental viability of desalination has the potential to significantly expand its use - particularly for rapidly growing water scarce coastal cities. Desalination can be seen as one option in a portfolio water supply sources, including traditional surface water and groundwater sources as well as wastewater reuse, to meet growing water demand gap. Although still relatively expensive, desalination offers the potential to enhance system reliability. As renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar expand, and as advances in concentrate management techniques make discharges from desalination plants much cheaper and safer, the prospect of producing freshwater from the sea without increasing greenhouse gases and without significant damages to the local environment become more promising.Publication Private Solutions for Infrastructure in Rwanda : A Country Framework Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005)This report aims to provide an objective assessment of the condition of Rwanda's infrastructure sectors and of the institutional and policy frameworks that are associated with them. It also provides a clear route map for infrastructure sector reform, as well as highlighting both the opportunities that exist for the private sector and the role that the donor community can play in assisting the Government with establishing priorities in infrastructure.Publication Developing International Power Markets in East Asia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1998-05)The Greater Mekong subregion--Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Yunnan Province of southern China--has good potential for international power trade. Initial interest in this market is being spearheaded by private developers negotiating bilateral cross-border trade agreements. But experience in power trade zones in Europe and North America shows that to achieve the benefits of fully fledged trade, the countries in the subregion need to closely coordinate electricity sector policy, operating protocols, and network development. This Note sets out the market development options, reviews sector reforms so far, assesses the obstacles to full power trade, and briefly outlines multilateral efforts to promote an infrastructure that will support international power trade in the subregion.Publication Introducing a Value Added Tax : Lessons from Ghana(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-12)In 1998 Ghana's government successfully introduced a value added tax (VAT). But this success followed a failed attempt in 1995, when the country's first VAT was repealed after just three and a half months. Ghana's experience provides several lessons for the successful introduction of a VAT-particularly the importance of recognizing public sensitivity to changes in the tax system and of securing public acceptance when introducing a VAT. A VAT's introductory rate has a big influence on public opinion, but so do public education and management of public expectations. In addition, political commitment- in terms of both an enabling macroeconomic environment and the enactment of legislation-is crucial for securing popular support and ensuring the timely introduction of a VAT.Publication Uruguay : Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC), Corporate Governance Country Assessment(Washington, DC, 2005-09)This report provides an assessment of Uruguay's corporate governance policy framework, enforcement, and compliance practices. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Uruguay. The paper discusses Uruguay's recent advances in financial and economic stability have given rise to an adequate basis for capital markets deepening and growth. However, these initial advances were jeopardized by a series of defaulting securities issuers and the 2002 financial instability episode which led to a perception of high risk and unpredictability of capital markets. The report then identifies several key steps to take in order to set strong corporate governance efficiency in the state owned financial sector. These steps include: improving corporate information, particularly ownership disclosure, related party transactions procedures, and financial reporting; promoting effective and active boards of directors; strengthening institutions, including the securities regulator, and the companies registry; and modernizing securities markets by strengthening intermediation and related regulations.