ICT and Economic Growth: New Evidence from Some Developing Countries

There have been significant advances in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) in recent decades. ICT plays a major role in innovation, raising productivity and increasing economic growth and therefore affects all economic sectors. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of ICT on economic growth in developing countries. To do so, we have used a sample of 30 developing countries for which the necessary data were available for the period 20012006. We concentrate on the usage aspect of ICT to deal with its impact on economic growth. We have also used a new composite index of ICT called Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) covering 3 dimensions including overall opportunity, infrastructure and application. Our findings based on panel data regression models indicate that in general a positive relationship between ICT and economic growth exists but it is significance at 15 percent level in the countries under consideration. Therefore, new developments in ICT in these countries are suggested