News South Asia

The Standard Chartered Bank’s African Report (AR) measures the impact of the bank’s operations in terms of economic value added and employment supported among others in Africa.

The 2014 AR was authored by Ethan Kapstein of Georgetown University, United States.  According to the report, which was presented in Lagos, by founding Partner at Steward Redqueen, Dr. Rene Kim, the bank has contributed $10.7 billion in economic value added, equivalent to 1.2 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, and has supported sub-Saharan trade worth $7.2 billion.

“By measuring direct and indirect impact, the report shows that our operations and financing support some 1.9 million jobs in the markets where we operate in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"The bulk of these jobs are in advanced, high value-added sectors – the fast-growing manufacturing and service industries that are changing the face of Africa’s economies,” the bank said.

According to the report “Africa is leapfrogging old technologies and embracing the digital revolution, leading the world in innovation such as mobile payments.”

The report noted that although the dearth of infrastructure and barriers to intra-nation trade is hampering a much bigger trade, Africa has recorded consistent growth faster than the rest of the world in the last decade.

The report added that Africa’s share of world trade amounts to five per cent but records only three of intra-African trade.

“A number of reasons can be adduced for the lack of intra-African trade, part of which include lack of or dearth of infrastructure. There is also the issue of barriers which needed to be taken out for effective intra-Africa trade,” kim said.

He credited the emerging Africa economic success for having been “built on solid foundation that is sustainable for the long time.” He however stated that despite “Africa’s strong performance, poverty and income inequality continue to be significant challenges.”

He further stated that “job creation is not keeping pace with the continent’s rapidly growing population.”

Most critically, Kim stated that “quality jobs are essential to eradicating poverty and fostering real development in economies. Banks fuel employment by providing credit and other financial services that help businesses set up trade and expand, and by working with governments to remove barriers to economic activity.”