African Nations Set to Dominate Global Business if Digital Measures are Taken
Africa’s Growing Economies
Reports from the African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have predicted that Africa will be home to eleven out of the twenty fastest-growing economies of the world, and Africa’s GDP is expected to rise by 4.2% by 2025.
Digital Trade in Africa
Digital trade in Africa is growing rapidly, and in countries like Morrocco, Egypt, Madagascar, Nigeria, etc., exponential growth has been recorded since 2015.
This was triggered by subcontracting various business roles and adopting digital methods. All over Africa, improved use of digital technologies is projected to increase digital services exports by US$74 billion from 2023 to 2040, doubling Africa’s global share.
This rapid growth creates opportunities to transform the continent’s economy as its export capacity expands to include new markets and products, and domestic competitiveness strengthens by importing key input services.
This development reinstates the need for effective translation and localization services to foster global trade, especially when dealing with a linguistically diverse continent like Africa.
As predicted by the World Trade Organization, improved digital connectivity and a comprehensive enabling regulatory environment can reduce trade costs by 25 percent.
Overcoming Obstacles
Services facilitated by technology offer a way to side-step some of the obstacles to trade in Africa, which include outdated transport infrastructure and relatively high barriers to merchandise trade. Digital trade fosters inclusiveness across people of different demographics as it connects customers to service providers and suppliers.
Technology Creating Growth
Harnessing the benefits of digital trade across borders requires connectivity, skills, electronic payments, logistics, an enabling policy framework, and effective translation and localization services to combat communication barriers.
Read more on how African nations are dominating global business growth and how digital trade is becoming a catalyst for Africa.
