Trade liberalisation brings little gains to Africa: Unctad
Africa has opened up its markets significantly to trade, but the move has not given the needed push to the continent's export performance, a United Nations trade and development agency report said Monday.
The UN agency said that despite trade liberalisation, African exports were still insufficient in terms of quality and quantity to gain a foothold in foreign markets.
Average tariffs for the continent fell from 21.7 percent in 1995 to 13.1 percent in 2006, but the average ratio of exports to gross domestic product climbed to just 26 percent from 23 percent.
This increase amounted to a 11 percent growth, much lower than the 50 percent increase (growth from 21 to 31 percent) posted by non-African developing countries after trade liberalisation, said the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
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