Israeli exports to Africa (excluding Egypt and Morocco) rose 250% from $342 million in 2002 to $1.2 billion in 2012, the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute reports. 2.6% of Israeli exports go to Africa.
Export Institute CEO Ofer Sachs says, "The Export Institute attaches great importance to increasing Israeli exports to Africa and increasing the number of companies exporting to it. Africa has become a continent that Israeli exporters cannot ignore. The potential for export growth includes mobile communications infrastructures, roads, railways, and hospitals, air and seaports, energy technologies, remote education, and advanced technologies for agriculture and water."
The Export Institute states that, in 2002-12, Sub-Sahara Africa's growth rate was 5.6% a year, and that it is expected to continue to have the highest growth rate in the world, after China and India. Africa has the fastest population growth in the world, and is projected to have two billion people by 2050. Its labor force is projected to double.
In the past few years, governments in many African countries have stabilized and they are implementing numerous economic reforms. Notwithstanding the continent's great potential, Israeli exporters face complicated barriers. In addition to language and business culture barriers, there are the challenges of poverty (72% of Africans earn less than $2 a day, and 33% earn less than a $1 a day), wide social gaps, complicated bureaucracy, and corruption.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 22, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013