[ 2012-04-14 ]

African countries loses billions of dollars due to high trade barriers
Accra, April 13, GNA – African countries are
losing billions of dollars in potential trade
earnings every year due to high trade barriers, a
latest World Bank (WB) report has indicated.

The report said it would be easier for Africa to
trade with the rest of the world than herself,
which is a far cry from the expectation and aim of
African leaders who are calling for a continental
free trade area by 2017 to boost trade within the
continent.

This was contained in a release copied to the
Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday.

It said: “These high trade barriers lead to
regional trade fragmentation which deprives the
continent of new sources of economic growth, new
jobs, and sharply falling poverty, factors which
accompanied significant trade integration in East
Asia and other regions”.

The release said the cross-border production
networks that played an important role to increase
economic growth particularly in East Asia, had yet
to materialise in Africa.

It announced that the conclusions of WB's report
which were of particular pertinence for Ghana
would be presented at a forum where recent
analysis of the barriers to trade caused by lack
of implementation of Economic Community of West
African States commitments in the region would be
discussed.

The release said participants at the event would
be expected to discuss policy responses to address
these barriers, simplify and improve transparency
of trade procedures in the region, and improve
intra-regional collaboration among government
agencies that intervened in trade procedures.

“In particular, the presentation will focus on how
these barriers impact on ordinary traders in Ghana
when trading with Nigeria,” it said.

Source - GNA

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