Standard Bank launches the Africa Trade Barometer, the first-ever Biannual African Trade Index. The Barometer, published twice a year, is present in 20 African markets but will initially focus on ten countries: Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. It aims to share comparative data on trade openness, access to finance, macroeconomic stability, foreign trade, infrastructure, governance, and economy & trade finance behavior. The Barometer will collect qualitative and quantitative intelligence from 2,400 companies representing SMEs, larger family businesses, corporates, and multinationals to be enriched with third-party sources, including the World Bank, International Trade Center, and individual country central banks.
Standard Bank predicts the Africa Trade Barometer to become the leading African trade index. It also expects the Barometer to be a valuable resource for business people, students, governments, NGOs, and investors assessing and leveraging Africa’s significant trade opportunity, estimated to be worth $70 billion annually.
