REGS Outils de lecture

The objective of this article is to empirically evaluate the effects of FDI on the industrial performance of the CEMAC during the period 2000-2020 with, as a proxy, the industrial value added, employment in the industrial sector, the manufacturing value added and the production capacity index. The different regressions of the dynamic panel GMM models generally show that inward FDI in CEMAC has not improved the industrial performance of the countries. They have also not promoted the industrialization and structural transformation so desired by countries in order to achieve economic emergence. Based on the results obtained, our article proposes three implications for economic policy. The first consists in the selectivity of foreign investors oriented towards the processing sector in order to promote industrialization and increase the share of industrial employment in total employment. The second is to strengthen human capital to build skills for industrialization as well as to strengthen the role of institutions for the development, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of industrial policy. The third is the creation of production conditions in the capitals of the CEMAC countries so that urbanization is really akey factor in industrialization.