Ensuring that Africa Keeps Rising: The Economic Integration Imperative

Abstract

Cyclical factors, and especially the commodities boom, have played a big part in Africa’s impressive growth record since 2000. But the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative is increasingly supported by important macroeconomic reforms and structural changes that bode well for sustained levels of economic growth and development. A critical determinant of whether this trend continues is the nature and extent of African countries' economic integration with the rest of the world and with neighbours. To date, researchers often have sidestepped the issue of economic integration in studies on African growth because of an uneven understanding of the true role and influence that economic integration plays, compounded by the low level of economic integration historically displayed by African economies and large gaps in data. This paper aims to fill this gap by employing Pankaj Ghemawat's framework which measures trade, capital, information and people (TCIP) flows, coupled with unique data, to assess the nature and extent of cross-border interactions, economic openness and integration amongst 11 of sub-Saharan Africa's largest economies.