Urbanization and Import in Africa

Patrick Steve KAMDEM SIMO, Institut Sous régional de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquée
Mathieu Juliot Mpabe Bodjongo, Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion de l'Université de Dschang

The link between urbanization and African imports is a topical one, given the food vulnerability of african cities and the deficit structure of continental trade in the face of a strong proliferation of urban agglomerations. However, very little empirical work has been done on this relationship. This paper aims to analyze the impact of urbanization on imports in Africa. To this end, an augmented gravity model is estimated using Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood. The results show a positive effect of urbanization on total imports in Africa, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, while the effect is reversed in North Africa. We also show that agricultural products are the most imported as a result of urbanization. In terms of specific products, urbanization leads to higher imports of rice, fish and oil, and lower imports of maize, palm oil and fertilizers.