OPINION: It’s time we pushed for greater intra-Africa trade

At the root of this drop in CEO confidence are not so much the existential threats that featured prominently in the past (for example, terrorism and climate change), but much more concerns in relation to factors that affect the ease of doing business in the markets in which they operate and the consequent impact on confidence and resultant willingness to take risks and invest. At the global level the top three threats cited (and respective percentage of respondees) were (1) over-regulation (35 per cent), (2) policy uncertainty (35 per cent), and (3) availability of key skills (34 per cent). Interestingly for Africa the same concerns were in the top three, but in all cases cited by a higher percentage of respondees, and with policy uncertainty at the top of the list: (1) policy uncertainty (49 per cent), (2) availability of key skills (45 per cent), and over-regulation (43 per cent). If we are to realise the articulated shared objective of using regional integration to drive private sector growth then it is key to address concerns on policy uncertainty and with that policy coherence.

OPINION: It’s time we pushed for greater intra-Africa trade

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