Africa’s total exports surge by 17% in 2023, yet its global share is still less than 3% — report
Africa’s exports increased by 16.8% in 2023 compared with a year earlier, reaching US$665.4 billion, whereby this significant growth was primarily driven by minerals and IT services, according to a recently published Africa Export Competitiveness Report 2023.
According to the report, the world economy recovered considerably from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2023, as the total merchandise exports soared to US$7.2 trillion. With Africa’s total exports having registered a growth of 16.8%, the continent seemed to be aligned with the world trend, yet its share of global exports remains modest, constituting less than 3%. The Africa Export Competitiveness Report 2023, which was published jointly by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and other partners, offers key findings that provide a more comprehensive understanding of the continent’s economic landscape, complexities and main drivers to foster an intensification of intra-African trade and African exports.
According to the report, Africa’s leading exporters are South Africa, Morocco, and Nigeria, with Asia, particularly China, now surpassing Europe as the main export destination. The report also highlighted that African export of services in 2023 experienced a growth of 30% over 2022, indicating an even higher growth rate than experienced by the world as a whole during the same period. The report also noted that mining, agricultural and extractive products continue to heavily dominate Africa’s merchandise exports. As of 2021, minerals constituted 39.57% of all exports, followed by precious stones at 17.82% and agricultural products at 12.91%. On the flip side, the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa experienced a significant fall from the record-breaking $80 billion in 2021, when its total inflow in 2022 amounted to $44 billion.
