Regional integration can boost economic growth

Lazarus Sauti



Professor Mthuli Ncube, African Development Bank vice president and chief economist, believes greater regional integration can act as a buffer for possible future economic crises.
He said regions with quality integration are better at absorbing the shocks of the global economic crisis.

“… Those regions where the quality of integration is of higher quality are better at absorbing the shocks of the global economic crisis,” Ncube said.

This is so because regional integration is all about investing in infrastructure, education, labour and technology, ensuring good management of shared resources, and having uniform rules, standards and regulations so goods and services do not get delayed or blocked at the border.

Ncube adds: “Regional integration basically is about really facilitating movement in a region, in a zone, in a country, within a country. It is about moving people.

“It is about making sure that our seaports function well so as to service the countries where they are located, but as well as the hinterland.

“So it is about movement of investment within Africa and capital as well.”

He goes on to say, “There are many facets to facilitating movement all with the view to developing business and growing the economies.”

Regional integration should be high on agenda of African countries and this means much improvement is needed.

In most – if not all – African countries, trade in goods and services is still low.

Ncube notes: “Intra-African trade is still of the order of 15 percent compared to other regions where it is much higher, many times higher.

“Much of it has to do with weak manufacturing bases that you find in most African countries.
“So the countries do not have much to trade with each other.

“A lot of them will still produce natural resources, which are merely exported without much beneficiation (processing to add value).

Ncube adds that there are other areas where the African continent has made a lot of progress, such as in intra-Africa investment and this includes banks and mobile telephone companies.


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