The regional meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Non-Government Organisations wants the authority of the SADC Secretariat to be strengthened to make it more responsive and decisive in its actions. The meeting also called for the re-enactment of the SADC Tribunal, saying there is urgent need for such a body in [...]

A week after pressing Europe to boost its trade ties with Africa in Brussels, the World Trade Organisation’s chief said in Nairobi that leading European economies should look at developing and low income countries as the new globe’s economic growth engine, at a time of decreasing development aid. Pascal Lamy, the former European Union trade commission [...]

The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) insists that its request for safeguards against cheap frozen chicken meat imports will not raise prices beyond 10% and 15% from current prices, denying claims of increases of up to 50%. In March, the association brought an application before the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac), arguing for an increase [...]

Special economic zones (SEZs) can help South Africa deal with its unemployment challenge by attracting jobs that China and other Asian nations will shed as they relocate some of their labour-intensive industries owing to rising costs, Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) executive director Ann Bernstein told the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, in Cape Town, [...]

There is a severe shortage of supply chain skills in South Africa, the University of Johannesburg’s 2012 Supply Chain Skills Gap Survey, released on Tuesday, showed. “Research shows the supply chain skills gap has widened considerably, even over a short time span, severely impacting the competitiveness of the South African economy,” researchers Rose Luke and [...]

China and India, both with a billion-plus population and emerging as the world’s two rising powers, are seeking to join efforts to create a new engine of the global economy. “I am confident that we will view bilateral relations from a strategic height…, jointly nurture new bright spots in cooperation among Asian countries, and create [...]

Tanzania and its East African neighbors could boost their annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by up to US$1.8 billion and US$ 830 million respectively by taking measures to improve the efficiency of the Port of Dar es Salaam, according to the latest Tanzania Economic Update published by the World Bank. So far, Tanzania and six [...]

The Governor of the Bank of Namibia, Ipumbu Shiimi, says although the goal of Africa to share a common currency is sound – the basics such as road and other infrastructure need to be addressed first. His remarks follow a call by Founding President and Father of the Namibian Nation, Dr Sam Nujoma, for a single African [...]

Member states of the African Union (AU) and political leaders must muster political will to surrender part of their sovereignty over trade, economic and financial issues to regional and continental supranational organisations because the continent must be fully integrated in the coming 50 years, a senior AU official said here Monday. “African countries should think [...]

The challenge to find an enabling environment for investments thus, economic development remains illusive in most African countries. In the last century, the attempt to find the right balance failed to bring about the desired result. Record expenditure in development assistance through governments and non-government organizations didn’t make much of a dent. The private sector [...]

South African President Jacob Zuma and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the strengthening of economic ties and expansion of trade between the two BRICS partners during their meeting in Sochi, Russia on Thursday. According to The Voice of Russia, Putin told journalists after the meeting that trade between Russia and South Africa had increased by [...]

Across Africa, investments in physical and social infrastructure have failed to keep pace with growth and demand, creating a serious infrastructure deficit that slows investment, the achievement of broad-based and inclusive growth, and poverty reduction. The figures are revealing. More than half of the countries in Africa suffer chronic power outages, stifling industrialization and other [...]

Earlier this May in Cape Town, South Africa, economists at the World Economic Forum reaffirmed that regional integration will play a key role in unleashing the continent’s growth potential. More than 10 regional economic communities (RECs) are working toward this goal in Africa, but the main framework behind this effort is the African Economic Community (AEC). The [...]

The G20 group of the world’s leading economies should deepen consideration of the development concerns of small, poor and vulnerable economies in their efforts to promote equitable and sustainable economic growth. Dr Cyrus Rustomjee, Director of the Economic Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat, told a meeting of the G20 Development Working Group that in [...]

To boost investment in a Sino-Egyptian joint industrial zone, three large Chinese companies will start production there this year. The three firms, Jushi Egypt Fiberglass Industry, XD High Voltage Equipment Company and Muyang Egypt Industry, will bring a total investment of more than 400 million U.S. dollars this year, said Liu Aimin, general manager of [...]

Seventeen years from now, half the global stock of capital, totaling $158 trillion (in 2010 dollars), will reside in the developing world, compared to less than one-third today, with countries in East Asia and Latin America accounting for the largest shares of this stock, says the latest edition of the World Bank’s Global Development Horizons [...]

Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Education and Training Authority (Merseta) CEO Raymond Patel on Thursday challenged government’s National Development Plan (NDP) vision of shifting South Africa’s economy to be more knowledge-based by suggesting the move should rather be to a more manufacturing-based economy, which he viewed as the best way to achieve growth in the country. “We [...]

Africa is touted as the continent of opportunities, where there are endless resources available for economic growth and transformation. But for Africa to take its rightful position in the world’s global economy, then it must dream of becoming borderless in terms of doing business. If the continent can create a single economic space, eliminating the [...]