More Trade Within Africa Offers Route to Faster Growth

Boosting trade between African countries requires better infrastructure

Africa’s potential can be fully realized only through more foreign investment

Africa needs to strengthen gathering of its economic statistics

A panel of four finance ministers told a news conference that boosting trade between African countries would require higher spending on roads, railways, and bridges.

Addressing reporters during the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, the ministers said there is a widening and deepening of global interest in Africa. The continent may account for a small percentage of global GDP, but Africa’s high growth rates heralded a possible role as a much larger player in the world economy.

“One of the ways we can take advantage of the rebound in Africa is through increased regional trade,” Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta said. “One of the reasons countries in the East African Community were able to be resilient despite the downturn in demand for our products from the developed countries was the increase in regional trade that took place.”

Common market

Kenyatta said regional authorities are working toward further strengthening trade between their countries. “We have a common market that has been in place since July 2010, and we are also working to improve infrastructure so that this increased intraregional trade can continue,” Kenyatta stated.

Sierra Leone’s Finance Minister Samura Kamara endorsed the importance of higher spending on infrastructure. “We want to devote a lot of our resources to the achievement of higher growth, and in so doing we are looking at infrastructure development,” Kamara said.

Finance Minister Mohamed Bacar Dossar said Comoros has tried to promote foreign investment in the country, particularly with Arab world, where Comoros has cultural and historical links. “These efforts led to a donors conference in March 2010 that generated pledges totaling $350 million in financing and investment for the Comoros. It also held out the prospect of projects to improve infrastructure,” he added.

Mohamed Bacar Dossar (l) of Comoros, with Albert Besse of the Central African Republic, at African finance ministers news conference (IMF photo)

Albert Besse, Finance Minister of the Central African Republic, said debt relief has released resources for the country’s fight against poverty. He said the authorities are also addressing many needs in the social sector...