Regional integration in Africa versus higher levels of intra-Africa trade

Figures & data

Figure 1: Gross domestic product (GDP) of African regions

Source: www.unctad.org

Table 1: Total regional exports

Region	Total Exports to	2003 (%)	2007 (%)	2011 (%)
South	South	10	9	8
East	East	16	15	15
	South	3	5	4
West	West	10	9	8
	South	2	3	4
Central	Central	2	2	2
North	North	3	3	5

Source: www.unctad.org and author's own calculations.

Table 2: Total regional imports

Region	Total imports from	2003	2007 (%)	2011 (%)
South	South	18	14	12
	West	1	1	2
East	East	9	7	7
	South	10	10	9
West	West	13	10	9
	South	2	2	2
Central	Central	4	6	4
	West	8	12	8
	South	2	2	2
	North	1	2	2
North	North	4	4	3

Source: www.unctad.org and author's own calculations.

Figure 2: Intra-regional and inter-regional trade in Africa (2011)

Source: www.unctag.org

Table 3: Regional African trade with the rest of the world

Region	2003		2007		2011
	Exports (%)	Imports (%)	Exports (%)	Imports (%)	Exports (%)	Imports (%)
South	88	81	89	84	89	85
East	78	80	75	82	77	82
West	85	84	87	86	87	87
Central	97	85	97	78	96	84
North	97	95	96	95	92	96

Source: www.unctad.org and author's own calculations.

Figure 3: Trade between Africa and the rest of the world (2011)

Source: www.unctag.org

Table A1: UNECA classification of African countries – geographical region

Region in Africa	53 countries included (UNECA classification)
South	Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe (11 countries)
East	Burundi, Comoros, Dem Rep of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda (13 countries)
West	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo (15 countries)
Central	Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Chad (7 countries)
North	Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, (South Sudan), Tunisia (7 countries)

Source: www.uneca.org

Table A2: Regional economic communities

Regional economic community	Type	Member countries
Arab Maghreb Union (UMA)	Free trade area	Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)	Free trade area	Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD)	Free trade area	Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Comoros, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Sao Tome
Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)	Free trade area	Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)	Free trade area	Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)	Free trade area	Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania
Southern African Development Community (SADC)	Free trade area	Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)	Customs union	Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon
East African Community (EAC)	Customs union	Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon
Southern African Customs Union (SACU)	Customs union	Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland
West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)	Customs union	Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo

Source: Various REC websites.

Table A3: Main export products (2011)

Region	Exports to	Type of products (% of exports)
South	south	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (16%)	Other (80%)
	east	Flat rolled products, iron, non-alloy steel (10%)	Other (77%)
	west	Motor vehicles (16%)	Other (77%)
	central	Ships boats and floating structures (11%)	Other (70%)
	north	Copper (34%), Motor vehicles (31%)	Other (25%)
East	east	Vegetables (8%)	Other (81%)
	south	Gold, non-monetary (12%)	Other (73%)
	west	Liquefied propane & butane (12%)	Other (71%)
	central	Fixed vegetable fat & oils (19%)	Other (61%)
	north	Tea (33%)	Other (43%)
West	west	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (53%)	Other (42%)
	south	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (56%)	Other (8%)
	east	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (43%)	Other (48%)
	central	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (79%)	Other (18%)
	north	Liquefied propane & butane (21%)	Other (54%)
Central	central	Ships, boats and floating structures (34%)	Other (39%)
	south	Ships, boats and floating structures (45%)	Other (22%)
	east	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (64%)	Other (24%)
	west	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (29%)	Other (53%)
	north	Wood (32%)	Other (37%)
North	north	Liquefied propane & butane (20%)	Other (67%)
	south	Gold, non-monetary (75%)	Other (21%)
	east	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (11%)	Other (75%)
	west	Fish (19%)	Other (66%)
	central	Fish (17%)	Other (68%)

Source: www.unctad.org

Table A4: Main import products (2011)

Region	Imports from	Type of products (% of imports)
South	south	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (11%)	Other (79%)
	east	Copper ores & concentrates (38%)	Other (42%)
	west	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (92%)	Other (6%)
	central	Electric current (17%)	Other (51%)
	north	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (16%)	Other (72%)
East	east	Vegetables (20%)	Other (79%)
	south	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (7%)	Other (81%)
	west	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (47%)	Other (43%)
	central	Civil engineering & contractors’ equipment (40%)	Other (45%)
	north	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (14%)	Other (68%)
West	west	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (25%)	Other (50%)
	south	Motor vehicles (12%)	Other (83%)
	east	Liquefied propane & butane (13%)	Other (70%)
	central	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (20%)	Other (58%)
	north	Fish (20%)	Other (63%)
Central	central	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (36%) Ships, boats & floating structures (28%)	Other (36%)
	south	Ships, boats & floating structures (38%)	Other (51%)
	east	Liquefied propane & butane (23%)	Other (58%)
	west	Petroleum, oils or bituminous (80%)	Other (18%)
	north	Fish (30%)	Other (60%)
North	north	Liquefied propane & butane (19%)	Other (64%)
	south	Copper (32%) & Motor vehicles (31%)	Other (30%)
	east	Tea (46%)	Other (37%)
	west	Coffee (25%) & Liquefied propane & butane (21%)	Other (40%)
	central	Wood (43%) & Coffee (27%)	Other (30%)

Source: www.unctad.org