The World Economic Forum in its 2014 Global Trade Enabling Report has put The Gambia, Ghana and Senegal ahead of Nigeria. The report also placed The Gambia, Ghana and Senegal on the same position.
The report ranked the four African nations based on domestic and foreign market accessibility, border administration, existing infrastructure and operating environment. Under market accessibility measurement, extent and complexity of each country’s tariff regime, as well as barriers faced and preferences enjoyed by exporters in foreign markets were studied.
The score grade of 1-7 was used by a team of market researchers to investigate the extent to which the identified factors contribute to trade advancement in the countries. Out of 138 countries, The Gambia, Ghana and Senegal were ranked ahead of Nigeria with the same score of 3.6 while the Africa’s biggest economy had 3.1.
The report indicates that Ghana led Gambia, Nigeria and Senegal with 4.0 scores for domestic market accessibility, while Senegal upturned Gambia, Ghana, and Nigeria with 2.6 points. The global survey also examined border administration of the four countries focusing on efficiency and transparency. According to the report, Senegal is more efficient and transparent with 4.2 scores ahead of Nigeria, while Gambia and Ghana were locked with 4.1 points. The Gambia with 4.4 scores edged out Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria under business operation index, which measured quality of key institutional factors impacting the business of importers and exporters active in the countries.
Examining availability and quality of basic transport, information and communication infrastructures in the countries, the report established The Gambia competitive advantage over Senegal with 3.0 points and Nigeria which has 2.4 scores. For availability and quality of transport services under infrastructure index, Nigeria upsurge Ghana, Gambia and Senegal with 3.7 scores, while Ghana had competitive advantage over The Gambia, Nigeria and Senegal with 3.1 scores under availability and adoption of ICTs for business purposes.
According to the report, access to trade finance, identification of potential markets and buyers are the most problematic factors affecting trade growth in The Gambia, Nigeria and Ghana in the area of exportation, while Tariffs, burdensome import procedures and corruption at border were identified as main problematic factors for importation in The Gambia, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria respectively.
According to the report, Nigeria’s 124th position is an illustrative of a significant number of challenges faced by the country. “Nigeria’s market is very open, yet many non-tariff barriers are hindering trade development. These include underdeveloped infrastructure across all modes of transport, insufficiently available and costly transport services and low use of ICTs, “ The report added that: “As African economies continue to grow, demand is set to increase and African economies should be well positioned to take advantage of these new potential export opportunities.”
Among other recommendations, the report stated that Nigeria needs to identify ways to reduce the high trade barriers exporters face in target markets in order to take more advantage of exports for its development.
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