CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA: THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The study examined the moderating role of financial technology on the relationship between circular economy and sustainable performance in Africa. The study used secondary data and it is sourced from World Bank Development Indicator database for the period of 2000 to 2022. The descriptive statistics was used to describe the feature of the data and Panel VAR used as the estimating technique. It was found that circular economy has positive and significant effect on sustainable performance while financial technology has negative and insignificant effect on sustainable performance in African in the short run. However, there is uni-causal or influence running from circular economy to sustainable performance in the selected African countries. However, it was concluded that the introduction of the moderating term which is financial technology has increased the positive effects of circular economy on sustainable performance. Thus, governments must invest in programs that enhance and promote circular economy in African countries and this promote economic sustainability in African countries.  It further recommended that policy makers, investors, business owners’ etcetera should promote green environment in our communities through financial technology that generate net zero carbon emission.