Blog

Use of Electronic Certificates of Origin now and beyond COVID-19 in intra-African Trade

29 Jun 2020 ~ Rwatida Mafurutu
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, it continues to restrain free movement of people, goods and services across African borders to unprecedented levels. Countries find themselves confronted...read more

Beyond SDGs: The role of African youth in reaping demographic dividends

29 Jun 2020 ~ George Lwanda
A good starting point in the discourse on youth is how to define the population group that is considered youth. This is because there exists no globally accepted definition of the youth po...read more

Digitalise transport and trade procedures to ease the supply of essential goods during COVID-19 and beyond

29 Jun 2020 ~ Trudi Hartzenberg, Talkmore Chidede
Governments across the world have implemented measures to stem the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Trade-related measures have been implemented particularly to ensure the contin...read more

How Should the Covid-19 Pandemic Inform Economic and Trade Policy?

29 Jun 2020 ~ John Stuart
The Covid-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on economic activity globally. The World Trade Organization estimated in April that world trade would fall by between 13 and 32% in 2020, ...read more

EU investment governance developments: Implications for African countries

25 Jun 2020 ~ Talkmore Chidede
The European Union (EU) investment policy is a model that many other countries have viewed as a standard or best practice in investment governance and have thus sought to emulate. Most of ...read more

An Agenda for the AfCFTA Protocol on E-Commerce

25 Jun 2020 ~ Ify Ogo
E-commerce has been included in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) through a decision of the African Union Heads of State and Government Assembly in February 2020[1] and will...read more

South Africa’s April 2020 trade statistics – reduced exports lead to a significant trade deficit

16 Jun 2020 ~ Willemien Viljoen
South Africa’s March 2020 trade data[1] showed that measures adopted by its global trade partners to curb the spread of COVID-19 mainly impacted South Africa’s imports. Main source mar...read more

Why it may be better not to rush the Implementation of the AfCFTA now

25 May 2020 ~ Trudi Hartzenberg, Gerhard Erasmus
There have been urgent calls for completing the outstanding African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) negotiations and to implement this new continental free trade regime as soon as pos...read more

Some reflections on Africa Day 2020, COVID-19 and the AfCFTA

25 May 2020 ~ Trudi Hartzenberg
We will all remember Africa Day 2020. Africa Day, which we have been celebrating on 25 May each year since the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, and its tra...read more

The Implications of COVID-19 for regional trade

25 May 2020 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
COVID-19 is a global pandemic and will have severe implications for African nations. Inadequate public facilities, wide-spread poverty and crowded living conditions make them particularly ...read more

COVID-19 and its implications for women

25 May 2020 ~ Bineswaree Aruna Bolaky, Darsheenee Ramnauth
In a recent op-ed, Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook drew attention to the “double-double shift” that COVID-19 is imposing on women.[1] Women have multiple roles...read more

EAC Regional response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

25 May 2020 ~ Geoffrey Osoro
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an impact on the East African Community (EAC) economies both directly and indirectly as a result of the measures being taken currently to contain the sprea...read more

The Pandemic and its Aftermath: The Role of Trade Policy

19 May 2020 ~ Patrick Low
Received wisdom from a wide spectrum of commentators is that our post-COVID-19 world is going to be different from the one the virus invaded. Predictions vary considerably as to what is go...read more

South Africa’s trade for March 2020 – significant trade surplus shows the initial impact of COVID-19 on imports

13 May 2020 ~ Willemien Viljoen
On 30 April 2020, the South African Revenue Services (SARS) released South Africa’s latest official trade data – trade for March 2020. The data shows some of the initial impact of the ...read more

South Africa’s new status as a ‘developed country’ for purposes of United States’ subsidies and countervailing duty investigations

04 May 2020 ~ Eckart Naumann
Earlier this year, on 10 February 2020, the United States announced changes to the way in which it would conduct aspects of its trade remedy investigations, including that South Africa (an...read more

South African tourism and the coronavirus pandemic

28 Apr 2020 ~ David Christianson
SA tourism heads for bleak winter and beyond Worldwide lock-downs in response to the coronavirus pandemic have hit the tourism industry especially hard. There have been no partial exempti...read more

Understanding Africa’s Place in Regionalised Global Trade

23 Apr 2020 ~ John Stuart
Since the era of the internet began, globalisation has gathered pace and the countries of the world have become more economically integrated. The significant improvements in communications...read more

Coronavirus and freight forwarding in SADC

09 Apr 2020 ~ Elisha Tshuma
South Africa is the economic powerhouse in the region. Most countries rely on South Africa, in some way, for their imports. They import goods from South Africa and some import goods from g...read more

COVID-19 impact on investment in Africa

07 Apr 2020 ~ Talkmore Chidede
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacts on foreign direct investment (FDI) across the world. In 2019, UNCTAD anticipated global FDI flows to rise marginally in 2020.[1] However, due to...read more

Recovery from the Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: What Role for Trade?

07 Apr 2020 ~ Beatrice Chaytor, Ify Ogo
The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on African countries will be known only after the situation is brought under control. There will be immediate shocks to livelihoods, as well a...read more