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North Africa must look south to boost trade
North Africa must look south to boost trade

Arab News

time5 days ago

  • Business
  • Arab News

North Africa must look south to boost trade

Rising tariffs, geopolitical fragmentation, and persistent supply chain disruptions are roiling international trade. The World Trade Organization projects a 0.2 percent contraction in the global goods trade during 2025, which could deepen to 1.5 percent if tensions escalate. UN Trade and Development warns that policy uncertainty is eroding business confidence and will slow global growth to 2.3 percent in 2025. Against this backdrop, developing economies are under mounting pressure to diversify partnerships and reduce external dependencies. The pressure is particularly acute in North Africa. The region, comprising Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia, has long been tethered to European economic cycles. In 2023, the EU accounted for 45.2 percent of North Africa's trade, making the region vulnerable to any slowdown in European demand. At the same time, North Africa has played a marginal role in international commerce, accounting for only 3.7 percent of global trade in 2023. But this moment of uncertainty also represents a strategic opportunity for North Africa to look southward toward the fast-growing markets of Sub-Saharan Africa, which currently account for just 2.4 percent of North Africa's total trade. As I, and others, argued nearly a decade ago, stronger economic ties within the continent could reshape regional growth trajectories. That continues to be true today. With economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa estimated at 3.7 percent in 2024 and projected to rise to 4 percent in 2025, the rest of the continent offers many opportunities to North African businesses as an emerging market for manufactured exports, and as a region for the expansion of value chains. North African products, particularly from the automotive, fisheries, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and textiles sectors, would likely be well received in Sub-Saharan Africa, owing to their higher quality and competitive prices. The region's full integration with Sub-Saharan Africa would bring the largest gains in trade. Audrey Verdier-Chouchane Some progress has been made toward increasing intra-African trade and North Africa's role in it. Morocco recently became the continent's leading automobile exporter, for example, with sales of $6.4 billion in 2023. Many of these cars went to West Africa, in part as a result of regional free-trade agreements. Some North African countries belong to economic communities in other regions, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States. But it is the ambitious African Continental Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA, that offers the best chance for deeper continental integration. It came into effect in 2021 and has 54 active members, making it the world's largest free-trade area in terms of membership. North Africa could play an important role in driving growth and enhancing trade within this area. The region has about 200 million consumers and occupies a strategic geographical position between Europe, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. It also possesses significant natural resources, a diversified industrial base, and relatively well-developed human capital, and economic infrastructure. AfCFTA is widely expected to boost economic growth, private-sector development, investment, and capital flows across the continent. A forthcoming study by the African Development Bank to assess the effect of the free trade area on regional economies, using the Global Trade Analysis Project model, suggests that this is especially true for North Africa. Under every scenario, North Africa's gross domestic product, and its components, are projected to increase by 2031. The region's full integration with Sub-Saharan Africa would bring the largest gains in trade (5.5 percent) and GDP (0.77 percent). The study also predicts that implementing AfCFTA will lead to a decline in poverty and an increase in wages for both skilled and unskilled workers in the region. The main downside of AfCFTA is in the fiscal domain. The African Development Bank study anticipates a reduction of customs revenues in North African countries; the least affected will be those that have already entered into bilateral free-trade agreements, or have relatively high levels of economic diversification and strong productive capacities. There are also major barriers to realizing the potential of intracontinental trade, including inadequate infrastructure, tariff-harmonization challenges, and limited institutional coordination across Africa's regional economic communities. But given the overall potential benefits, North African economies should make implementation of AfCFTA a high priority. Enhanced intra-African trade flows would promote further economic diversification, job creation, investment, and GDP growth, generating long-term prosperity and private sector development in North Africa. In a fracturing global economy, regional solidarity has taken on new importance. By fully committing to AfCFTA and strengthening ties with partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa can chart a new path toward inclusive, resilient, and sustainable growth. • Audrey Verdier-Chouchane is lead economist for the North Africa region at the African Development Bank. ©Project Syndicate

Ghana: President Mahama welcomes London Mayor
Ghana: President Mahama welcomes London Mayor

Zawya

time7 days ago

  • Business
  • Zawya

Ghana: President Mahama welcomes London Mayor

President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday reaffirmed Ghana's firm commitment to international trade and investment, outlining the wide-ranging reforms actively fostering economic transformation and better governance. He was speaking during a courtesy call from the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan. The President stated that these strategic reforms, begun just six months into his administration, are already showing tangible results. He spoke about the renewed business confidence, the relative appreciation of the Cedi, and a decreasing inflation rate as important signs of economic stability and progress, especially after recent global challenges and inherited public debt burdens. 'We are striving to cultivate a new sense of thinking, a fresh approach to doing things, and to ensure that we effectively serve the people who elected us to lead,' President Mahama stated. He elaborated on key government initiatives, including the '24-Hour Economy' policy, drawing inspiration from London, a city he described as 'never sleeping.' The President explained, 'We've launched a 24-Hour Economy initiative to harness Ghana's vibrant youthful population and address the challenges of rapid urbanisation by promoting continuous economic activity and opportunities.' President Mahama further emphasised Ghana's burgeoning digital landscape, indicating the country's readiness to fully integrate into the global FinTech community with numerous digital services and innovative companies emerging across the country. He also reiterated the government's strong focus on agriculture and agribusiness as vital sectors for creating more opportunities, particularly for young people. Discussions between the two leaders also delved into the deep historical and business ties connecting Accra and London. President Mahama acknowledged Accra's rapid growth and expressed Ghana's keen interest in learning from London's extensive expertise in urban planning, efficient transport systems, modern waste management solutions, and effective flood control strategies. 'For a city like London, the efficiency of your transport system, even with perceived challenges, is truly remarkable,' the President noted, adding, 'We aspire to develop similar reliable systems where punctuality is the norm for our citizens.' In his remarks, Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan congratulated President Mahama on his re-election and commended the positive signals his administration is sending to the international community regarding Ghana's potential. He praised the invaluable contributions of Londoners of Ghanaian origin, who are enriching various sectors of the city's economy and public life, from healthcare and transport to the arts. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

Miriam González Durántez: ‘We never holidayed with the Camerons'
Miriam González Durántez: ‘We never holidayed with the Camerons'

Times

time17-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Times

Miriam González Durántez: ‘We never holidayed with the Camerons'

Miriam González Durántez, 57, is an international trade lawyer and the founder of the Inspiring Girls charity. She is married to the former Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg, who served as deputy prime minister in the coalition government with the Conservatives from 2010 to 2015 and was subsequently president of global affairs at Meta, the parent company of Facebook. She was born in Spain and divides her time between her home nation and London, where her husband is based. She is the mother of three boys — Antonio, 23, Alberto, 21, and Miguel, 16. I was eight years old when Franco's dictatorship in Spain ended in 1975, and it was only then that a lot of middle-class Spanish families like my own really had enough money to go on holiday and explore our seaside. I remember my parents, brother, sister, uncles, cousins and I cramming into a procession of cars with our pots, pans and bed linen for the ten-hour drive from my home town of Olmedo, in the centre of Spain, to Alicante, where we rented shoe-box-sized flats for a couple of weeks; I spent many happy hours playing on the beach there. In my teens, my family and I drove all over western Europe, including Britain, and I've had an affection for the British Isles since then. The last of those trips was to Austria, just before my politician father, José Antonio, sadly died in a car accident aged 58. After Nick became the MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005 we got to know the Peak District well and loved going on day trips, walking and climbing in the magical, heather-clad hills around Stanage Edge. But we regularly returned to Spain with our boys in summer. Sometimes we'd visit lush, mountainous Asturias, on the northwest coast; other times we'd visit Menorca, and more recently Catalonia. It took a while for Nick to adapt to Spanish seaside culture. In Britain, if there are a bunch of people on the beach, one usually goes somewhere quieter, whereas in Spain we love socialising and always sit right by the crowd of people. I think he's got the hang of it now. Our holiday habits changed surprisingly little after Nick became the Lib Dem leader. Naturally, security was more of an issue when he was deputy prime minister, but we carried on going to the same parts of Spain that we had always visited. The only difference was that we had two more people with us, though we tried to integrate the security guards as much as possible into the family, which made it nicer for everyone. Did we ever go on holiday with David Cameron or other politicians? No, it never really crossed our minds, and I have only visited Chequers once; indeed, I only met the Camerons three times socially for dinner. As far as I'm concerned, work is work in politics, and it is healthy not to make it a personal affair. In 2017 our eldest son Antonio was diagnosed with lymphoma — thankfully he's now fully recovered —and to cheer him up during the chemotherapy treatment we told him that we'd go on holiday to somewhere of his choice when it was over, and he asked to go to California. We flew out there as a family and visited San Francisco, Los Angeles and Yosemite National Park. So when we told the boys the following year that Nick had been offered a job with Facebook in California, they were keen to go because they thought of it as a holiday destination. We spent the next five years in the US. We didn't have green cards during the Covid years, so we couldn't leave the country. Therefore, we holidayed in America and got to visit everywhere from Arizona's Grand Canyon and Montana to Alaska, where we saw bears — it was a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by miles of nothingness. The UK was going through Brexit so — speaking for myself — it was nice to be abroad and not to have to witness the economic and political self-harm that the Brexiteers inflicted on the country. Around then we started going on activity holidays, which involved things like ziplining, swimming with manta rays, jumping off waterfalls and canyoning. This appealed to the boys, and also to Nick; I always find it a bit challenging, but there is no way I am going to be relegated to the hotel. Nowadays I spend weekdays in Spain leading [the non-partisan political organisation] España Mejor, but I return to our home in London to join Nick and my youngest son most weekends. I know it sounds crazy, but it sort of works. Miriam González Durántez is the founder of the Inspiring Girls charity ( In our weekly My Hols interview, famous faces — from the worlds of film, sport, politics, and more — share their travel stories from childhood to the present day. Read more My Hols interviews here

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