Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa top list of countries supporting intra-Africa trade

NAIROBI, Kenya - The intra-A African trade is bound to grow as most continental countries are now trading among themselves. This is according to a new survey by the Pan-African private sector trade and investment committee (PAFTRAC).

PAFTRAC survey also reveals that Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa are some of the leading states leading in the promotion of intra-Africa trade.
The latest PAFTRAC trade and investment committee survey indicates that Africa-based companies exported goods and services to Nigeria at 25.96 percent, Kenya at 23.89 percent followed by South Africa at 22.12 percent.

Improved Kenya’s infrastructural sector like the standard gauge railway (SGR) is some of the drivers of the country’s good performance index.
PAFTRAC survey “The inclusion of South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya among the leading trading nations is partly the result of the role that their international ports play in regional trade.”

Most of the private firms however expressed their main concern with SGR lacking the capacity to connect to other parts of Kenya.

PAFTRAC added that “The biggest challenge is that yet the new railways are built, it often proves difficult to secure funding for linking transport infrastructure across borders. For instance, Kenya’s new standard gauge railway (SGR) runs between Mombasa and Nairobi but not yet between Nairobi and Kampala.”

The country has also been importing from other African nations.

Although Kenya is one of the world’s largest horticultural exporters, Nigeria imports flowers from Europe rather than Kenya, making this one of the challenges around intra-African trading.

Last year Kenya’s imports of goods and services were 20.1 percent of the country’s GDP.

“Exports are the main Anglophone markets and also form the primary source of imports for the companies. Kenya performs particularly well, cited by 28 percent of participants, marginally behind South Africa (28.3 percent) in the first place,” PAFTRAC survey states.

The survey was administered to over 800 respondents, seeking to assess African private sector sentiment regarding the African trade prospects and landscape.

PAFTRAC undertook the survey between March and June 2022, targeting firms with annual revenues of up to $250 million and operating in agribusiness, manufacturing, education, and banking among others.

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