Railway transport in Africa constrained by rise in vandalism and theft

Monday, 06 January 2025 14:58

Compared to other continents, Africa has a very limited and underdeveloped railway network. A paper published by Tralac in September 2023 noted that the majority of railways (with a few exceptions), provides mainly links between coastal seaports and inland destinations, while those offering an interconnection between African states are very few. The paper also noted that even currently, 16 countries out of 54 African States in Africa still do not have railways. In addition, as many of them were built during the colonial period, these railways have aged significantly, because of years of underinvestment and lack of maintenance mainly due to a lack of consistent funding dedicated to these operations. As a result, road transport has become the dominant mode of transport in the continent, leading to congestion, accidents, and increased reliance on fuel imports. The African Development Bank calculates that road transport currently carries 80 percent of goods and 90 percent of passenger traffic, noting that the overreliance on road transport increases the cost of transporting goods, making African products less competitive in global markets.

Can the AfCFTA advance without cooperative practices among Customs?

Tuesday, 31 December 2024 08:56

The Abuja Treaty (1991) for the establishment of the African Economic Community recognizes the cooperation between African customs administrations as a key element for the correct functioning of the future Community, calling (Art. 39) for the development of a Protocol to define criteria and modalities for such cooperation. Despite this Protocol was never adopted, in 2004 the African Union decided to create a sub-committee of Directors General of Customs as a mechanism to facilitate the coordination among customs services in the continent. The creation of this committee was anticipated by a meeting of the Directors General of Customs of the AU member states held in 2003 in Johannesburg as part of the "All Africa Customs Conference" (AACC), in which for the first time discussions were held on how to improve cooperation practices among African Customs as part of advancing the continent’s economic integration process.

Decolonizing African agriculture: option or utopia?

Monday, 09 December 2024 21:17

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently issued the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024. The report reveals that food insecurity in Africa remains the highest of any region, with rates of hunger that are on the rise. In 2023, 298.4 million people were estimated to have faced hunger, compared with 41.0 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 3.3 million in Oceania. This numbers have grown steadily since 2015. There is a clear trend of rising prevalence of undernourishment in Africa, in contrast with other regions like Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, where progress is being made or nutrition levels remain unchanged.

Climate-resilient transport infrastructure is the recipe that Africa needs to grow

Thursday, 19 December 2024 10:59

A common topic that often emerges in the economic literature’s discussions on the high cost of transport in Africa is the lack and the poor status of infrastructure linking the different countries and regions in the continent. This factor is usually indicated as the main reason for the high price of African products and of the inability of Africa to compete in international markets. Instead, a less debated argument are the difficult geographical conditions faced by many African States - especially in Sub-Saharan Africa – that frequently need to cope up with floods, droughts, storms, and other natural disasters causing premature deterioration of such infrastructure and increased maintenance costs.

AfCFTA Protocol on Investment: trojan horse for foreign investors?

Saturday, 07 December 2024 08:42

An article published on Bilaterals (a website that is notoriously critical about free trade, especially among countries with different development levels), argues that the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment could lead to a surge in land grabbing in Africa, especially by foreign investors, if not correctly implemented by State Parties. Land grabbing is the practice by foreign companies, nations, or individuals of purchasing or leasing large portions of land in Africa for agricultural production. Land grabbing is a growing concern in Africa which raises the risk of abuses in the forced expropriation of plots occupied by poor local and indigenous peoples.

Railway transport in Africa constrained by rise in vandalism and theft

Can the AfCFTA advance without cooperative practices among Customs?

Decolonizing African agriculture: option or utopia?

Climate-resilient transport infrastructure is the recipe that Africa needs to grow

AfCFTA Protocol on Investment: trojan horse for foreign investors?

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