African economy foreign trade of Africa. Regional trade agreements

Course summary (African economy)

Growth in Africa, which had accelerated from 3.1 percent in 2000 to 6.1 percent in 2007, is now projected at only 1.7 percent for 2009 – down from the projected 6.4 percent, and far below the average growth rates of 5.3 percent posted by the continent’s best 15 performing countries for more than a decade.

The proportion of Africans living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 58 percent in 1996 to 50 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

The creation of several institutions for economic integration in Africa in the last two decades was expected to boost intra-African trade in goods. Such trade increased from 2 per cent in the early 1980s to 9 per cent of total African exports in 2007, but these statistics underestimate the actual flows as they do not include unrecorded trade, which is thought to be very important. Even with this caveat, intra-African trade flows are low in comparison to those in other regions and relative to Africa´s trade potential.

Example of the course African economy:

Analysis of trade destinations reveals that despite the low aggregate level of intra-African trade, such trade is very important for many African countries. At least 25 per cent of exports from 20 countries are absorbed by the regional market. The importance of trading blocs is further highlighted by the fact that over three quarters of intra-African trade takes place within these regional groups.

Africa has a long tradition of cross-border investments but the lack of reliable data has constrained detailed analysis. The scanty data available indicates that intra-African investment represents 13 per cent of total inward Foreign direct investment (FDI). This level is less than half the figure for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, where intraregional FDI is estimated at 30 per cent of total FDI.

Developing services trade is a key component of successful regional integration in Africa, says the report. Services represent, or have the potential to become, significant sources of export earnings for a large number of African economies.

The global economic crisis, which hit in the wake of the food and fuel crises in 2007–08, is having a major impact on African countries through declines in commodity prices, tourism earnings, exports, remittances, and private capital flows.

Millennium Development Goals in Africa

Slow growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has meant increases in both the poverty rate and the number of poor in the 1990s. The region has the largest poverty head count ratio compared to all other developing regions. The incidence of poverty at $1.25 a day in Sub-Saharan Africa is reduced by little, from 53 percent in 1981 to 51 percent in 2005. Poverty rates increased through the mid-1990s, but there has been encouraging downward trend since then. The number of poor living on less than $1.25 a day has almost doubled in SSA over 1981-2005, from 212 million to over 388 million.

The share of the world's poor living in Africa has risen from 11 percent in 1981 to 27 percent in 2005. The mean consumption of Africa's poor is not only lower than that in any other region, but also has shown very little increase over the period. The mean consumption of those living under $1.25 per day in Africa was $0.74 per person per day in 1981 and fell to $0.73 in 2005.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region in transformation and with diverse performers. Several countries have sustained significant growth rates over the last ten years, and many have achieved progress in poverty reduction, life expectancy, and other Millennium Development Goals, including Benin, Mali, Tanzania, and Uganda, while others have experienced modest or even negative growth rates and increases in poverty.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world
- 15% of it is considered desert (hot with little rain)
- 10 % of it is considered tropical rainforest (tropical wet)
- 35% of it is considered savanna/ grasslands (steppe)
- The rest of Africa includes Mediterranean climate, mountain climate, tropical wet and dry, rainy and mild, and wet and mild.
The African continent is more than three times the United States in size.

Approximately 255 million people live in West Africa and 225 million in East Africa, the two most populous of Africa’s five regions, almost as many as in the entire U.S. Central Africa, the least populous, has over 100 million people. Southern Africa and North Africa each have about 150 million.

1000 languages are spoken in Africa (40 of which have more than one million speakers)

AFRICA Scholarships Grants

African, Economy, foreign, Trade, Africa, WB, UN, global economy, financial crisis, Regional, Trade agreements, RTA, African Economic, Development, Report, Population, religion, languages, Millennium, Development Goals, Master, international business