To ensure South Africa retains its status as a gateway into sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the country needs to focus more on regional integration and boosting trade with the region.
This was one of the take-aways from the two-day South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) congress held in Durban this week, with South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner, Tom Moyane commenting that trade between South Africa and its neighbouring countries was growing. “However, congestion at borders remains a concern and it is imperative that this is addressed to further facilitate cross-border trade,” he said.
Dr Sonja Carter, senior lecturer at the School of Economics North West University, agreed, pointing out that the region currently has one of the slowest border crossing times in the world. “It takes, on average, about 85% longer to import into the region and about 60% longer than the global average to export across borders,” she said.
Carter also commented that while South Africa has strong trade partnerships with its direct neighbours, trading tapers off significantly with outlying countries.
“South Africa is facing significant challenges in terms of high fees and charges at borders, several news policy and regulation challenges as well as a lack of harmonisation with its regional trading partners around these policies and regulations,” she said.
Meanwhile, other countries in the SSA region are making major headway in regional integration, improving their trade corridors and enhancing their infrastructure and could soon leave South Africa behind in the quest for gateway status, noted Carter.
