Describe the characteristics of African trade

      

Describe the characteristics of African trade

  

Answers


Francis
A key feature of Africa’s trade, which has had some adverse implications for its impact on economic growth and development, is its high external orientation and relatively low level of intra-regional trade. Intra-African trade stands at around 10 per cent compared to 60 per cent, 40 per cent, 30 per cent intra-regional trade that has been achieved by Europe, North America and ASEAN respectively. Even if allowance is made for Africa’s unrecorded informal cross-border trade, the total level of intra - African trade is not likely to be more than 20 per cent, which is still lower than that of other major regions of the world.
Africa is characterized by a large number of very small, landlocked markets, which are highly dependent on neighboring countries, economically.
That African countries do not trade much with each another has meant that they have been unable to fully harness the synergies and complementarities of their economies and take full advantage of the economies of scale and other benefits (such as income and employment generation) that greater market integration would have provided. There are cases where products and services could have been sourced competitively from other African countries but were procured from outside the continent Exports from Africa are heavily concentrated on primary commodities; the continent has been particularly vulnerable to external macroeconomic shocks and protectionist trade policies.
francis1897 answered the question on January 12, 2023 at 13:13


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