September 30, 2008
Economic Development in Africa 2008
Export performance following trade liberalization: Some patterns and policy perspectives

On September 15, 2008, UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade and Development) released this new report. It gives an insight into economic development in Africa. The report says strengthening supply capacity is essential for Africa to benefit from trade liberalization.
Chapter 1 briefly discusses the history of trade policy in Africa, the rationale for trade liberalization and its timing; it also provides an overview of Africa´s export performance to date in value, volume and composition.
Chapter 2 examines Africa´s export performance in agriculture.
Chapter 3 investigates why Africa has failed to diversify into the manufacturing sector in order to increase manufacturing exports.
Chapter 4 discusses some policy options for improving Africa´s export performance. These revolve around the issues of productivity, competitiveness, market access and access to factors of production, both in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
Details: Download the full report here. 6.0 mb
Website: UNCTAD website