The World Bank says regional trade barriers are blocking African countries from billions of dollars in potential earnings. It says it’s easier for those countries to trade with other parts of the world than with each other. The World Bank has released a new report – called De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Integration.
世界银行称，地区性贸易壁垒正在妨碍非洲国家获得数十亿美元的潜在贸易收入。该机构说，比起非洲国家相互之间的贸易，这些国家与世界其它地区进行贸易较为容易。世界银行发布一份最新报告，题为《整合非洲分散市场：深化区域一体化》。
“The Africa market is split into many individual country markets and many of those countries are small. And bringing those markets together would bring a lot of opportunities for people to trade across borders, but (also) to exploit the benefits of a much larger market. And the book is about barriers that ordinary traders face every day in trying to get across borders that are fragmenting those markets,” said Paul Brenton, the bank’s trade practice leader for the African region and co-editor of the report.
保罗·布兰顿是世界银行的非洲地区贸易问题主管，也是这份报告的共同作者。他说：“非洲市场分割为许多单个国家的市场，其中许多国家是小国。将这些市场整合到一起将会给人们带来很多跨境贸易的机会，也能有开发较大市场的好处。这份报告是关于普通贸易商每日所面临的贸易壁垒，他们设法跨越这些造成非洲地区市场分割的壁垒。”
Traditional markets stagnant
He said there are great opportunities for opening new markets.
他说，非洲地区存在大量开放新市场的机会。
“For example, in agricultural products, Africa has enormous potential to produce and sell more agricultural products. But barriers to trade are limiting that potential. There’s also potential in manufactures (sic). As Africa grows and middle classes emerge, there are plenty of opportunities for manufactures to be produced locally. But again, they’re not emerging yet. And there are also plenty of opportunities for trade in services for people, for professionals – doctors, teachers – to be able to sell their services across borders,” he said.
布兰顿说：“比如，在农产品领域，非洲拥有生产和销售更多农产品的巨大潜力。但是贸易壁垒限制了这种潜力。制造业也有潜力。随着非洲经济的增长和中产阶级的涌现，有许多在当地制造产品的机会。不过，这些机会尚未显现。另外，对于医生和教师等专业人士还有许多服务贸易机会，他们可以跨境提供服务。”
Africa’s traditional markets of Western Europe and the United States have been “stagnant” due to the global recession.
由于全球经济衰退，非洲的传统出口市场西欧和美国经济处于停滞状态。
“There are new markets and they’re very close. And it seems obvious that Africa should be exploiting its own markets as they grow, but often it’s much harder for Africans to trade with each other than it is for them to trade the rest of the world,” said Brenton.
布兰顿说：“有许多新市场，而且距离很近。随着非洲经济的增长，看来非洲显然应该开发它自己的市场。但是，非洲国家互相之间的贸易经常比非洲与世界其它地区的贸易要困难得多。”
Border blockages
The World Bank official said trade barriers in Africa often occur right at the border.
这位世行官员说，非洲的贸易壁垒常常就出现在两国边境上。
“There are a lot of agreements on regional trade in Africa on paper. And the real challenge is implementation. So what we find at the borders is a real lack of implementation of these agreements. In part, that reflects issues of governance. So if you go to the border of the DRC with Rwanda, you find there are 17 agencies at the border, each trying to get some money off traders as they cross the border and, even worse, harassing them in some cases. Now, there should only be four agencies at the border,” he said.
布兰顿说：“非洲有很多书面的地区贸易协议。但真正的挑战在于执行。我们发现，在边界上没有执行这些协议。这在某种程度上反映出治理的问题。因此，如果你去到刚果民主共和国与卢旺达的边界，你会看到边界上有17家机构，每家机构都在设法向跨越边境的贸易商收取费用，更糟糕的是，有时候还会骚扰他们。如今，在边界上只应该有4家机构。”
Trade barriers can affect consumers, as well. For example, the South African supermarket chain, Shoprite, spends $20,000 a week on permits just to sell products in Zambia alone.
贸易壁垒对消费者也造成影响。例如，南非的连锁超市Shoprite仅为了能够在赞比亚销售产品每周就要支付2万美元的许可证费用。
“If a firm has to spend a lot of resources on paperwork, on getting the necessary permits and licenses, if their trucks spend a long waiting at the border because the processing of these documents takes such a long time, then that’s passed on to the consumer in terms of high prices. This is an important issue, particularly with regard to food at the moment,” said Brenton.
布兰顿说：“如果一家公司不得不在文件手续方面、在获得必需的许可证和执照方面花费大量的资源，如果他们的卡车因为这些文件的处理需要大量时间而在边界上等待很久，那么公司这些成本都会以提高商品价格的方式转嫁给消费者。这是一个很重要的问题，尤其目前涉及到食品问题时更是如此。”
The World Bank recommends simplifying border procedures; using cross border mobile banking to improve access to finance and eliminating expensive import and export licensing procedures. It also calls for reforming regulations and immigration rules to allow a free flow of goods and services between countries.
世界银行建议简化过境手续；使用跨境流动银行来改善金融服务，以及取消费用高昂的进出口执照手续。世行还呼吁改革相关法规和移民制度，允许国与国之间的商品和服务自由流动。
The bank currently invests more than $4 billion in regional trade integration in Africa. Much of that goes to improving infrastructure, such as transportation and energy projects. That investment is scheduled to increase to $5.7 billion by July of this year. More of the funding is expected to be directed to regulatory issues.
世界银行说，目前它在非洲的区域贸易整合方面投资40多亿美元。其中的大量资金用于改善基础设施，例如交通和能源项目。该机构表示，到今年7月这项投资的规模将增加到57亿美元。预计其中的更多资金将用于改善管理。 |