‘Africa losing out on regional growth’

Africa is too focused on external markets, according to a World Bank-sponsored study on “De-fragmenting Africa.” “Africa is not achieving its potential in regional trade,” say authors Paul Brenton and Gözde Isik. “Regional trade can bring staple foods from areas of surplus production across borders to growing urban markets and food-deficit rural areas,” they say. By freeing up trade, African countries will be able to address social challenges such as poverty and unemployment. “Export growth has typically been fuelled by a small number of mineral and primary products with limited impacts on the wider economy. “Goods traded across borders in Africa will tend to be more employmentintensive than minerals and the facilitation of such trade is likely to have a more direct impact on poverty,” they say.