‘1600 documents needed for Zambia’

Inefficiencies and red tape that “paralyse the daily operations of ordinary producers and traders” have to be tackled if African trade is to realise its potential, says Marcelo Giugale, director of the World Bank’s economic policy and poverty reduction programme for Africa. Writing the foreword for a World Bank-sponsored study “De-fragmenting Africa. Deepening Regional Trade Integration in Goods and Services,” Giugale outlines the steps that need to be taken in order to eliminate problems that see trucks of companies like Shoprite needing up to 1 600 documents in order to clear cargo into Zambia. Improving transport flows is one of the steps. The report points out that the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index based on a worldwide survey of global freight forwarders and express carriers found that African countries lagged significantly behind other regions in key areas such as customs infrastructure.