Unlocking The Potential Of Africa S Services Trade For Growth And Development

"The services sector critical source of income and employment in Africa. As the most dominant sector in many African economies, it has become a dynamic driver of growth in the continent in recent years. This dynamism, however, has not translated into a structural transformation of the continent. Africa's services provision remains suboptimal and is delivered at a high cost. Various regulatory and policy shortcomings prevail, which explain these inefficiencies and impede Africa's capacity to fully capitalize on the potential of its services sector. If the continent is to fully realize the benefits of development, services must play an enhanced role in the growth process. Regulation of and policies for infrastructure services need to better target existing market failures and address structural impediments to improve performance in the sector and unleash the potential of Africa's services economy. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2015, subtitled Unlocking the Potential of Africa's Services Trade for Growth and Development, examines some of the major policy issues that underlie Africa's services sector and provides policy guidance on how services could contribute to Africa's regional integration and generate inclusive growth and employment. More broadly, the report discusses how services can contribute to sustainable growth and development continent-wide, especially given the enabling role of services and their capacity to link with other sectors. Africa needs to boost services trade and become better integrated in global value chains. The report makes specific and actionable policy recommendations on how to better leverage Africa's services trade and the related development, employment and growth benefits. The report emphasizes the need for greater policy coherence at the national, regional and international levels to address services sector and trade policy disconnects."--Publisher's description.

"The services sector critical source of income and employment in Africa. As the most dominant sector in many African economies, it has become a dynamic driver of growth in the continent in recent years. This dynamism, however, has not translated into a structural transformation of the continent. Africa's services provision remains suboptimal and is delivered at a high cost. Various regulatory and policy shortcomings prevail, which explain these inefficiencies and impede Africa's capacity to fully capitalize on the potential of its services sector. If the continent is to fully realize the benefits of development, services must play an enhanced role in the growth process. Regulation of and policies for infrastructure services need to better target existing market failures and address structural impediments to improve performance in the sector and unleash the potential of Africa's services economy. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2015, subtitled Unlocking the Potential of Africa's Services Trade for Growth and Development, examines some of the major policy issues that underlie Africa's services sector and provides policy guidance on how services could contribute to Africa's regional integration and generate inclusive growth and employment. More broadly, the report discusses how services can contribute to sustainable growth and development continent-wide, especially given the enabling role of services and their capacity to link with other sectors. Africa needs to boost services trade and become better integrated in global value chains. The report makes specific and actionable policy recommendations on how to better leverage Africa's services trade and the related development, employment and growth benefits. The report emphasizes the need for greater policy coherence at the national, regional and international levels to address services sector and trade policy disconnects."--Publisher's description.

Africa welcomes business investment and offers some of the world's highest returns and impacts Africa has tremendous economic potential and offers rewarding opportunities for global businesses looking for new markets and long-term investments with favorable returns. Africa has been one of the world's fastest-growing regions over the past decade, and by 2030 will be home to nearly 1.7 billion people and an estimated $6.7 trillion worth of consumer and business spending. Increased political stability in recent years and improving regional integration are making market access easier, and business expansion will generate jobs for women and youth, who represent the vast majority of the population. Current economic growth and poverty-alleviation efforts mean that more than 43 percent of the continent's people will reach middle- or upper-class status by 2030. Unlocking Africa's Business Potential examines business opportunities in the eight sectors with the highest potential returns on private investment—the same sectors that will foster economic growth and diversification, job creation, and improved general welfare. These sectors include: consumer markets, agriculture and agriprocessing, information and communication technology, manufacturing, oil and gas, tourism, banking, and infrastructure and construction. The book's analysis of these sectors is based on case studies that identify specific opportunities for investment and growth, along with long-term market projections to inform decision-making. The book identifies potential risks to business and offers mitigation strategies. It also provides policymakers with solutions to attract new business investments, including how to remove barriers to business and accelerate development of the private sector.

The Economic Report on Africa 2004 is the fifth in an annual series that reviews the continent's economic performance and near-term prospects. In 2003, Africa was the second fastest-growing developing region with real GDP growth of 3.8 per cent, driven by higher oil prices and production, rising commodity prices, increased foreign direct investment (FDI), better macroeconomic management, and good weather conditions. But the report takes the view that OECD trade policies are a serious constraint to Africa's integration into the global economy. African exports have been handicapped by industrial country policies such as tari. escalation, tari. peaks and agricultural protectionism. Africa's share in world merchandise exports fell from 6.3 per cent in 1980 to 2.5 per cent in 2000 in value terms. But the report also argues that strengthening Africa's supply side capacity is essential to more successful integration into the global economy. Weak infrastructure, poor trade facilitation services, and inadequate physical and human capital are impediments to the development of Africa's export sectors. Faster overall growth is needed if Africa is to make progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015.

The African Continental Free Trade Area is expected to be a game changer for development ambitions in Africa.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents a historic opportunity for the continent to boost intra-African trade and accelerate structural transformation. However, this relies on a critical policy instrument: the effective implementation of preferential trade liberalization among the AfCFTA members. Whether in practice African firms will utilize tariff preferences under the AfCFTA depends on a critical factor: rules of origin (RoO) and the net benefits of complying with them. This report argues for the adoption of flexible RoO and a strengthening of institutional capacities to ensure an impartial, transparent, predictable, consistent and neutral implementation of agreed RoO.

The Economic Development in Africa Report 2017 examines the role that tourism can play in Africa's development process.