John Iwori with agency report
Non-tariff obstructions such as slow processes, bureaucracy and corruption account for between 60 per cent and 90 per cent of trade costs in Africa, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) has said.
According to ICTSD, delays and unpredictability also reduce regional participation in global value chains because such industries require ‘just-in-time’ production which needs reliability.
It stated that integration varies across the continent due to their different historical experiences and economic developments.
It, however, stated that the East Africa Community (EAC) remains one of the best integrated regions in the continent.
According to ICTSD, Uganda’s role, as a trading hub linking Mombasa and Dar es Salaam with their hinterland, is growing. Despite successes, trade is still hampered by restrictive sanitary measures, price controls and arbitrary rules of origin, although the EAC are trying to solve these problems.
It added that the West Africa Sub-region is less well-connected.
“This is partly due to division between countries which speak French and those which speak English. Also conflict and instability has reduced political will to integrate. On top of this, several countries like Liberia, the Gambia and Sierra Leone are very poor”, it said.
The report noted that once infrastructure are built, it is often inadequately maintained leading to the poor quality of many roads and railways.
On the plus side, infrastructure is growing, although not as fast as it should be. Africa’s road network has been growing by an average of 7,500km a year since 2005, according to the African Development Bank.
Infrastructure projects are often funded by China, in return for resources, and, the report said, the slowdown in China does not currently look likely to lead to a slowdown in African infrastructure development.
