Africa’s trade with developing countries

International trade has and will continue to play a vital role in the economic development of Africa. It provides employment, contributes to technology transfer and is an important source of foreign exchange needed for imports of intermediate and capital goods used in domestic production. In recent years, African countries have intensified efforts to exploit this potential of trade for growth and poverty reduction. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the strong economic growth performance observed in the region between the second half of the 1990s and the onset of the financial crisis in 2008 was accompanied by a spectacular increase in trade. Africa’s total merchandise trade increased from $217 billion in 1995 to $986 billion in 2008. Its share of global trade also increased from 2.2 per cent in 2000 to 3.3 per cent in 2008. This means that Africa currently has a share of world trade that is higher than its share of world gross domestic product (GDP) (2.5 per cent) but much less than its share of world population (14.6 per cent).

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development

Countries: South Africa