Less red tape, more integration needed to boost Africa's growth
Harmonisation of regulatory environments is the key to setting up development in Africa
The benefits of intra-regional trade are well documented, yet Africa remains the least integrated continent in the world. Integration would allow for the creation of larger markets to enable players to take advantage of economies of scale, as well as increased competitiveness, specialisation and innovation. It’s no wonder therefore that increasing intra-African trade is the subject of many of the continent’s initiatives at regional and national level. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 sets as one of its goals the doubling of intra-African trade by 2022. In SA, the Trade Invest Africa programme was launched to target the increase in exports to the rest of Africa. Currently, 40% of SA’s exports go to Europe and only 25% to the rest of Africa. One of the main reasons for persistently low levels of intra-African trade is high costs. There is abundant anecdotal evidence indicating that it is cheaper to import goods from outside the continent than from within. A big driver of these high cos...
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