'Liberalisation has not Africa fails to diversify delivered'

Africa´s export performance after liberalisation has been “modest,” according to 2008 Economic Development in Africa report published by Unctad. It says trade liberalisation in Africa was expected to result in increased production in the tradable sector, which should have increased export volumes and diversified the array of exported products. Relative to other developing regions, the increase in Africa´s export value was driven primarily by an external factor – rising export commodity prices – rather than increasing volumes. Over the period between 1995 and 2006, both export volumes and prices grew at about 6% per year. This performance contrasts with the experience of developing Asia over the same period, where export volumes grew by 10% per year while the prices increased by only 1% per year, the report finds.