A survey commissioned by the Pan-African Private Sector Trade and Investment Committee to gauge the private sector view around trade has highlighted the private sector’s desire for considerable reforms to make the global trade rules system fairer and more transparent.
The survey revealed that African chief executive officers “explicitly” called for a fairer system governing global trade that will support developing countries; 37 per cent of the CEOs surveyed felt the World Trade Organisation as it stands is ineffective; and that 65 per cent of the CEOs felt the global trading system is unfair to Africa.
However, the surveyed CEOs were optimistic about the future outlook as over 50 per cent of them believed global trade would increase over the next 12 months.
Similarly, over 70 per cent of the CEOs believed intra-Africa trade would increase over the next 12 months.
Two hundred CEOs were surveyed around issues concerning the WTO and trade in general. It was done in light of the next phase of ongoing consultations to select the institution’s next director general.
Three of the eight candidates are Africans (Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Kenya’s Amina Mohamed and Egypt’s Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh).
The survey covered a number of areas that revealed a general consensus that the current rules penalise Africa and its private sector.
According to the survey, 86.6 per cent of the respondents understand the role of the WTO in global trade but a majority believe the WTO is not effective in fulfilling its role.
As much as infrastructure, logistics and human capital were cited as two major constraints to growth in Africa, the CEOs also stressed the skewed international trade regime as another key constraint.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, said, “As the pan-African trade finance bank, Afreximbank has been mandated to host the PAFTRAC secretariat. Any reform needs to support a burgeoning African private sector and an increasingly integrated Africa.
“We have seen, over the past quarter of a century since the WTO was formed, the emergence of a robust and dynamic African private sector, and more recently significant steps to integrate Africa under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.”
He added that the WTO and its new leadership would need to recognise the imperative of African integration and put development at the centre of any trade agenda.
Pat Utomi, Chair of PAFTRAC, stressed that unless reform was forthcoming the current global crisis may penalise the African private sector even further.
Utomi explained, “We have seen during this pandemic companies in the industrialised world have received massive bailouts, tax incentives, not to mention government contracts and fiscal stimuli.
“Companies in Africa were not so fortunate and will have to deal with a world where trade will be depressed because of the post-COVID-19 environment. As such, a fairer global trade environment and trading system are more urgent today than ever.”
The survey as well as a debate around a communiqué to be sent to all candidates who are in the race for the directorship of the WTO will be presented at a webinar taking place this afternoon and hosted by Afreximbank.
