OIL exporters in the Sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana have generated $370 billion from export to other parts of the world in 2012, according to World Trade Organisation report.
The report released recently by the organization hinted that Africa oil countries imported $179 billion worth of goods in the same period.
The report puts Nigeria’s export at $2 billion (N316 billion), while it imported $27 billion (N1.2 trillion) worth of goods. This made the country to occupy the 21st position in world leading exporters and importers in global commercial trade.
Africa’s total stands at $626 billion, representing four per cent of global trade, while its imported $604 billion worth of goods in the period under review.
The report stated that dollar value of world merchandise exports in 2012 was $18.3 trillion, which remained unchanged from 2011.
“The stagnation in values reduced the average growth rate for the post-2005 period to eight per cent from 10 per cent last year. This contrasts with the stronger growth rates of 22 per cent in 2010 and 20 per cent in 2011”.
“Meanwhile, world commercial services exports in 2012 were only two per cent higher than in 2011 at $4.3 trillion. The 2012 growth rate for transport services was in line with total world commercial services exports at two per cent while travel services grew faster and other commercial services grew more slowly at one per cent”.
It added that commercial services accounted for roughly 19 per cent of total world trade in world goods and commercial services in 2012.
“However, it should be noted that traditional trade statistics, which measure gross trade flows rather than value added at various stages of production, strongly underestimate the contribution of services to international trade. A joint initiative between the WTO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has developed new indicators of trade in value added that provide additional perspective on the role of services in world trade”.
The report disclosed that world trade and output in 2013 and 2014 looks unsettled, as positive economic trends have also been accompanied by more worrisome developments.
It noted that unemployment is falling gradually and private expenditure is picking up in the US, but automatic government spending cuts set to take effect in 2013 could weigh on growth later in the year.
“Political gridlock may be easing, which could allow more targeted and less sweeping measures to be agreed, with less risk to a promising recovery. The Federal Reserve has signalled that its most recent program of quantitative easing will not be withdrawn hastily, but as the economy picks up transitioning to a less accommodative policy stance could prove challenging”.
Source: Economic Tribune/Ghana
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