The Pan-African Personal Sector Commerce and Funding Committee (PAFTRAC) has launched its annual Africa CEO Commerce Survey, which provides a snapshot of sentiments amongst Africa’s enterprise leaders and is meant to tell decision-making by African public policymakers. This yr, over 1000 CEOs from 44 international locations, the biggest pattern ever, participated within the survey. The report reveals that whereas inflation and entry to finance stay of nice concern to companies in Africa, many are optimistic in regards to the prospects of the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA).
Presenting the outcomes on the digital launch of the report in a webinar on 21 November, Professor Patrick Utomi, chairperson of PAFTRAC and coverage guide to the Africa Export-Import Financial institution (Afreximbank), famous that almost all of the pattern had been small companies, and about 35% had been in operation for 5 years or much less. This, he mentioned, displays the truth that about 80% of companies in Africa are within the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) class.
Whereas rising debt and world safety points had been of concern, excessive inflation was the foremost concern that interviewees had. “Overwhelmingly, inflation is seen as having probably the most important affect on the continent and its companies,” Utomi mentioned.
Free commerce spurs optimism
Regardless of the challenges, the survey signifies that optimism concerning the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA) is excessive. Over 50% of companies anticipate a constructive affect, whereas “about 24% assume it’s going to have a reasonable impact on their enterprise, and 18% assume it might have little impact, or didn’t know what affect it might have on their companies,” Utomi mentioned.
One other frequent hurdle highlighted by the survey is entry to finance, which impacts the flexibility of companies throughout sectors to function and to scale up their operations. Utomi famous that agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation companies notably establish financing as a significant hindrance. “It goes to point out that if financing doesn’t exist, then the rest we’re talking about, whether or not it’s cross-border commerce, unification or AfCFTA, would quantity to nothing greater than rhetoric,” Utomi burdened.
As in earlier surveys, a notable concern was the dearth of enough data on the AfCFTA. “Most of them didn’t know what the AfCFTA was, what it meant for his or her companies or, extra importantly, how you can faucet into it,” Utomi mentioned, stressing that with out this data, SMEs specifically can be neglected of the AfCFTA as a result of they might not know how you can have interaction with it and entry the advantages they may derive from doing so.
In response to those issues, Utomi mentioned, the report makes various suggestions, which give attention to boosting value-added manufacturing; offering extra data on AfCFTA alternatives; creating boards for SME engagement with policymakers; incentivising cross-border aggregators; and fostering collaboration between the non-public sector and growth establishments. The report additionally highlights the necessity for capability enchancment, constructions for companies to entry financing, and steady monitoring and analysis of AfCFTA implementation for a affluent way forward for commerce in Africa.
The presentation was adopted by a panel dialogue with Professor Utomi; Gwendoline Abunaw, managing director of Ecobank Cameroon; Geoffrey White, CEO of Agility Africa; and Amit Agrawal, Ghana nation head at Olam Agri. The dialogue was moderated by Pedro Besugo, head of enterprise growth at Make investments Africa.
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Entry to finance is vital
Utomi welcomed the report’s findings, saying “it is a vital affirmation of one thing that we all know, which is the issue of entry to finance being a significant problem, particularly for cross-border commerce.” He famous that inflation additionally stays a significant problem, arising from current tendencies and provide chain crises associated to the Covid-19 pandemic. This, he mentioned, has had a major affect on the capability of small scale companies to take care of the commitments they’ve.
Utomi additionally underscored the importance of knowledge availability and the function of aggregators in facilitating environment friendly commerce and emphasised the necessity for SMEs to recognise the advantages of collaboration and aggregation throughout borders, which he mentioned may give them the type of quantity that may make them important world gamers. He burdened that PAFTRAC will proceed to play its advocacy function and work with policymakers to create the circumstances most conducive to enterprise and commerce on the continent.
Reacting to findings from the report which point out that central Africa is the least dynamic area within the continent, Abunaw mentioned that “The flows are usually not on the degree that they need to be. And it truly reveals that there was a regression or it has been stagnant,” she mentioned. Different obstacles to regional commerce, Abunaw mentioned, are insufficient transportation hyperlinks, financial and bodily integration limitations, and sophisticated customs and tax regimes. “Commerce liberalisation would positively increase financial development and poverty alleviation,” she argued. She pointed to efforts by monetary establishments comparable to Ecobank to facilitate cash transfers and to help small and medium-sized gamers in cross-border commerce, whereas emphasising the essential function of political will in addressing infrastructure, tariffs, and trade-related selections amongst taking part international locations.
White mentioned he was most heartened by the keenness proven for the AfCFTA, which has the potential to create a market of 1.3bn folks, rising to 2.4bn over the subsequent 25 years. “The idea of the AfCFTA is robust and so useful for everybody,” he mentioned. He famous that his firm, Agility Africa, which is constructing warehouses throughout Africa, will make it simpler for native and overseas companies to function in Africa.
Following Covid-19, firms are eager to supply domestically to obviate challenges related to transferring items throughout lengthy distances. Creating a bigger market by the AfCFTA would make Africa a extra enticing vacation spot. “In case you can truly transfer items throughout the borders simply and seamlessly and in a single commerce bloc, West Africa, for instance, turns into a 500m-person market,” he famous.
Commenting on intra-regional commerce, Agrawal famous that the Financial Group of West African States is an effective instance of a regional commerce bloc that works. “The Ecowas regime works truly fairly nicely when it comes to documentation, acceptance throughout borders, zero obligation and entry into numerous markets inside the Ecowas zone,” he mentioned. It additionally has a superb street community that permits the transport of products from Ghana so far as Niger and Benin, for instance.
With regard to the AfCFTA, he noticed that uneven tariff regimes are more likely to be the most important stumbling block to its profitable implementation. Growing intra-regional commerce will even rely, in massive measure, on enlargement of the street infrastructure, Agrawal mentioned, stating that, in some instances, it’s cheaper to move items from Asia to Africa than between African international locations.
He proposed a phased method to implementation, starting with making regional blocs perform extra easily. “I feel the very first thing that the African Union can do is to make the regional blocs work very easily. There’s a number of scope to make them work higher,” he urged.
On how you can enhance regional commerce, Abunaw burdened the significance of facilitating the motion of individuals inside sub-regional blocks and throughout Africa as an entire. Streamlining visa procedures, she mentioned, would discourage the usage of casual routes.
She additionally recommended that “if folks know what they’re alleged to pay, and we are able to truly digitalise it, it turns into formalised and clear and it might additionally tremendously enhance the flows.” She recommended that parity in currencies would imply that merchants don’t must undergo a overseas foreign money to purchase throughout borders. Lastly, she advocated for capability constructing and growing manufacturing, underscoring the necessity to present data and promote the usage of initiatives from growth banks and governments.
