ATTRACTIVITE DES INVESTISSEMENTS DIRECTS ETRANGERS ET REGIME DE CHANGE: LE CANAL DE TRANSMISSION INDIRECTE DE L'INTEGRATION REGIONALE

The issue of the attractiveness of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries is at the heart of the economic debate. Not with standing the efforts made, SSA attracts only 1.95% of total world flows over the period 1993-2013, despite the region's potential. Our article examines the contribution of regional integration to the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI). Thus, weuse a gravity model to estimate bilateral FDI. Our estimates show that the creation of ECOWAS and SADC has contributed significantly to the attraction of FDI. On the other hand, we note an unequal distribution of these flows among the countries of each regional integration. The results also show that the different currencies existing in each IR do not increase the attractiveness of these countries. Thus, to improve their attractiveness, these countries must continue their integration until the creation of a single currency (monetaryunion)