When Saul name was changed to Paul, he became prominently illustrious and had prodigious impacts on the lives of people in his generation. Dr. Bawumia in the same vein, wants to ornament the Ghana’s economic development model through a systematic policy termed as ‘ Digitalization ‘. Some people like splitting hairs over this artistry of Dr. Bawumia, by railroading a section of the citizenry out of their naiveness that, it is inconsequential and mirage. They do back their claims with the following flaccid assertions ;
I) This policy cannot generate ample revenues for the country for its seamless economic growth.
II) Job inadequacies shall become rife in the country.
III) It won’t improve the GDP status etc.
As usual, in this article, i will refute those highlighted claims pedagogically and factually, thereby establishing impalpable facts as to why, digital economy is the sole panacea to balloon this country auspiciously and audaciously. Fundamentally, the term “digital economy” refers to the use of big data and digital information as the key factors of production to create a new economic system by using advanced digital technology and optimising economic structure. Digitalization can be quantified into two forms, which are ;
1) Digital Industrialization : turning the telecommunications, information technology and internet industries into pillar industries.
2) Industrial Digitalization : ‘ upgrading ‘ traditional industries, including ‑ but not limited to ‑ the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things.
Digitalization is technically known as the era of ‘ new infrastructure construction ‘. This new infrastructure principally encompasses seven key domains: 5G network deployment, ultra-high-voltage power transmission, intercity high-speed rail and urban rail transit systems, electric vehicle charging stations, data centers, artificial intelligence, and industrial internet. This is why whenever, Dr. Bawumia gets the podium, accentuates his thirst to operationalize Electric Vehicles, maximize our data centers, train people to be au courant with the AI technology and deploying the functioning of the 5G Network soon – these provide the enzymes to oil the wheels of economic thickening of a country. In the short term, the new infrastructure is expected to stabilize the economy while averting declining investment returns. In the long term, it is poised to facilitate Ghana’s economic transfiguration, serving as the kernel for industrial digitalization, ‘ upgrading ‘ and better, proselytize sustainable economic evolution in this country.
United States of America and China are the simulacra of digital economy and due to that, their economies have been polished, embellished and enhanced, such that they crow of the highest GDP as of 2024 : USA have chalked a nominal GDP of $28.78 trillion and an annual growth of 2.7% ; China skite themselves of a nominal GDP of $18.53 trillion and annual growth of 4.6%. Moreover, in 2021, the digital economic growth of USA and China had reached $15.3 trillion and $7.1 trillion respectively. In the current environment of a sluggish global economy, digitization can play an imperative role in bracing policymakers to spur economic growth and employment. Strategy’s & econometric analysis estimates that, despite the inimical global economic climate, digitization provided US$193 billion impetus to world economic output and created 6 million jobs globally in 2011 and since then, these tallies have sprouted up epidemically.
Countries, which cannot attain digital transformation are forfeiting pluckiness and their GDPs are nosediving leisurely. That appertain to not economically infirmed countries but also to those laboriously indebted, such as Greece and Italy and to aging societies in which innovation zip and productivity are plummeting steadily. Many Asian countries in 20 years are characterized by strong economic growth, that is, they have financial resources for digital sea change. This relates to China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan.
Africa countries, although have a young and growing population and resources, still cannot engineer a digital framework, which in a way impede their economic advancement (Kodzasova, 2021). It has been envisaged that by 2030, GDP enhancement of over 50% will be associated with digitalization and will be ensured by developing the information industry and spiraling the efficiency and competitiveness of all sectors of the economy. In particular, for 2017-2030, the information industry contributing to GDP growth will be almost 4%, and the digitalization of economic sectors will be approximately 30% (Dranev, Kuchin, & Fadeyev, 2018).
Ever since Adam Smith proposed the theory of absolute trump card savoured by a country in producing a good or service, policymakers have sought to build and maintain this primacy in key sectors of their economies. Digitization is emerging as a new tool to build and buck up such plenary advantages, and in some cases even to claim the “right to win” and sock the competition in certain sectors — a critical capability which underpins all other national economic efforts. The digital economy instantiates a transformative technological shift with profound implications for resource allocation, industrial advancement, and regional development etc.
Creating digital markets and vitalizing digitization can yield significant economic perquisites and lead to substantial social benefits to societies and communities. Digitization has the potential to hoist fecundity, fashion new jobs, and magnify the quality of life for society at large. For example, if emerging markets could double the Digitization Index score for their craptastic citizens over the next 10 years, the result would be a global $4.4 trillion gain in nominal GDP, an extra $930 billion in the cumulative household income for the poorest, and 64 million new jobs for today’s socially and economically most marginal groups. This would enable 580 million people to climb above the poverty line.
This brainchild of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for Ghanaians, which has been demythologized is the supreme blueprint to remediate the current economy and to make rapid strides in the economic growth of this country or better still, grease the wheels of the economy subsequently.
By : Prof. Dinkum.
(The Buzzing Rapine of Erudition)
E – mail : dinkumchoice@gmail.com
