Africa-Singapore trade on the up and up in the last five years

Dar es Salaam. Trade between Singapore and Africa has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of over 7.6 percent over the past five years, a senior official said at the weekend. Singapore is among the top 10 investors in Africa, with over 100 Singaporean companies operating across 50 countries in oil and gas, consumer, digital, agri-business and trade sectors. Speaking at a virtual media briefing about the Singapore African Business Forum 2021 edition, Ms Linn Neo, Regional Director of Enterprise Singapore, said the forum would serve as a platform for holistic engagement between Singapore, Asia and Africa. She also said the forum, which is scheduled to take place from August 23 to 27 this year, will raise awareness of Africa’s growth opportunities, and promote Singapore as a hub for Asia-Africa trade and investment, among other things. Ms Linn said Singapore had been a long-time development partner in Africa, and both have used their development models to influence manufacturing, sustainable infrastructure, innovations and technology across the continent.

The virtual forum organized by Enterprise Singapore, an agency championing enterprise development, would bring together trade and business experts from Singapore and African countries to explore opportunities on trade and investment for socio-economic development.
The forum will focus on topics like “Africa’s Urban Future: Sustainable Planning and Construction, Manufacturing in Africa: Deepening Value-Capture in the continent, Digital Africa: The Next Tech Frontier.
“Singapore’s Import from Africa had grown $2.48 billion in 2016 to $4.2 billion in 2020 while Singapore’s Export to Africa had grown from $3.74 billion in 2016 to $4.96 in 2020.
“While the total trade between Singapore and Africa has grown from $6.22 billion in 2016 to $8.98 billion in 2020,” she said.
With the influx of Chinese influence, she said Singapore can provide an alternative model of partnership of development, particularly post COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2015, Singapore has been among the top 10 investor economies in Africa, measured by Foreign Direct Investment stock.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, from 2015 to 2019, Singapore’s investments into Africa rose from $17 billion to $20 billion.