Air transport in Africa: often not an option, but the only choice

Friday, 04 October 2024 11:44

A report published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Institute a few months ago on the assessment of the early experiences of trading under the AfCFTA, pointed out how critical is to reduce transport costs for the shipment of products to other African markets, especially agricultural goods, for trade under the AfCFTA to take off. In analysing the experiences of some African countries within the framework of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative, the report mentioned the case of Rwanda, where the government provided support to local exporters by facilitating the aggregation of shipment so to access to lower air freight rates for the export of some agricultural products (tea and coffee) to Ghana. The report concluded by highlighting how important is to reduce freight and logistics costs for African exporters – especially the smaller ones – so that they can benefit from greater economies of scale. But why air transport? Isn't it the most expensive form of transport?

New PAFTRAC report reveals AfCFTA as African companies' act of faith

Thursday, 26 September 2024 14:15

In line with the previous edition, the latest PAFTRAC Africa CEO Trade Survey Report (2024) provides an assessment of the impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on African trade. PAFTRAC is the acronym of Pan-African Private Sector Trade and Investment Committee, an advocacy platform bringing together stakeholders from both the public and private sector to formulate policy recommendations aimed at improving trade and investment flows across the continent. Every year PAFTRAC issues a report where it describes the perceptions of African Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) about the future economic outlook of the continent based on specific surveys. All the editions of the report also make an analysis of the expectations of African businesses regarding the AfCFTA.

Why transport costs in Africa, and in developing countries, are so high?

Sunday, 22 September 2024 12:31

About 90 percent of the the global volume of cargo is currently transported by sea. Maritime trade has benefitted in the latest 70 years from a continuous growth in the tonnage of container ships, which have now reached a carrying capacity of about 24,000 containers or more. This growth in transport volumes has enabled a significant reduction of costs for this mode of transport, which have declined by up to 39 percent by weight and 62 percent by value since the 1960s. Unfortunately, this reduction has not been uniform across countries. For instance, a shipment from a low-income country to the United States costs almost twice as much as a shipment from a high-income country. On the other hand, for what concerns South-South trade, in contrast to developed countries, developing countries predominantly use road transportation as main transport modality, a mode of transport that is notoriously more expensive than maritime shipping, despite being more flexible, as it allows for door-to-door deliveries. A new World Bank report analyses the factors that cause these disparities, showing that the cost of trading within developing countries is between 3 and 14 times higher than in the United States, a situation that is also common to Africa.

AfCFTA: centripetal or centrifugal force?

Wednesday, 25 September 2024 12:49

Bilaterals has published on its website the findings of a recent webinar organized on 12 September by several organizations from the civil society and the agriculture sectors in Africa to collectively reflect on what the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) means for ordinary Africans in a time of deep climate, economic and food crises. The webinar examines the AfCFTA from a perspective that is different from the one we are used to, drawing a rather apocalyptic scenario.

Seychelles starts preparation of AfCFTA implementation strategy

Thursday, 19 September 2024 17:25

On 17 September 2024 the Trade Department of the Seychelles Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Trade, with the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GIZ, the German development agency, organized a workshop for the launch of the Seychelles AfCFTA implementation strategy.

During the Conference of the African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development held in Addis Ababa in May 2018, the African Union member States were urged to prepare national strategies and action plans to identify opportunities, constraints and challenges related to the AfCFTA implementation, including the sectors and products (both goods and services) that offer the greatest potential for value addition and value chain integration within the AfCFTA single market. For Seychelles, the national AfCFTA implementation strategy aims at identifying institutional and regulatory gaps, as well risks and opportunities related to the implementation of the AfCFTA. The AfCFTA national implementation strategy complements broader national long and medium-term plans already adopted by Seychelles, namely Vision 2033 and the National Development Strategy Seychelles 2024-2028. Our CEO Danilo Desiderio is the main consultant designated by UNECA to develop the strategy.

Air transport in Africa: often not an option, but the only choice

New PAFTRAC report reveals AfCFTA as African companies' act of faith

Why transport costs in Africa, and in developing countries, are so high?

AfCFTA: centripetal or centrifugal force?

Seychelles starts preparation of AfCFTA implementation strategy

More Articles...

Login

Who is online

Main Menu

Resources