IMF Chief Identifies Three Key Factors To Increase Trade in Africa

In an interview with CNN Business on Friday, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva pinpointed physical connectivity across countries, elimination of trade and non-trade barriers, and digital money as the three key factors that would boost trade in Africa.
On the occasion of the IMF-WB annual meetings scheduled (for the first time in fifty years) in an African country, namely in Marrakech (Morocco), Georgieva expressed the international financial institutions’ concern about African economies.
She highlighted the impact of Covid-19 on the skyrocketing inflation, increasing debt and high interest rates, especially in low-income African countries.
The African regional agreements are showing good results where there is strong leadership. The IMF chief predicted that “trade within Africa can increase by 53%, trade between Africa and the rest of the world by 15% and real income per capita could grow by 10%” if only trade and non-trade barriers are removed and the continental free trade agreement is duly implemented.
IMF focuses on boosting education spending and the quality of health and social protection expenditure as the only means to increase productivity, said Georgieva.