Convergence in infrastructure development within the regional economic communities of African countries

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the convergence of infrastructure development within the regional economic communities of 52 African countries between 2005 and 2022. Design/methodology/approach The modeling of transition paths to convergence and club convergence was tested using Phillips and Sul's econometric convergence approach. Following the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) regional classification, we classified the panel data into seven regional economic groups. Energy, transportation, telecommunications, water, and sanitation are the four indicators that make up the African Infrastructure Development Index (AIDI), from which the infrastructure development index data were collected. Findings The results suggest that panel convergence is not present across all regions at the full sample size. Nonetheless, there is evidence of a trend toward convergence at the conclusion of the research period in all regions. The club convergence results could not be extrapolated to other locations because both divergent and convergent clubs existed. The findings additionally demonstrated that only the nations in the COMESA and SADC regions' final club classes are rapidly adjusting to the same level of infrastructure development. Research limitations/implications This paper's most significant policy implication is that to address the lack of convergence in infrastructure development across regions, African countries should prioritize regional infrastructure integration initiatives. Originality/value This study contributes to the current literature by examining the convergence of infrastructure development in the African context and assessing the club convergence/divergence of African countries in infrastructure development using the Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009) technique.