UN agency urges Africa to liberalize financial services sector
Xinhua, July 9, 2015 Adjust font size:
The UN Habitat on Thursday urged African countries to liberalize its financial services sector in order to attract more capital inflows.
UN-Habitat's Urban Economist Marco Kamiya said that the services sector has the potential to become a key driver of Africa' s economic growth.
"In developed nations, the services sector contributes over 70 percent of employment opportunities compared to sub Saharan Africa where it is less than 40 percent," Kamiya said during the launch of a UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report in Nairobi.
The economist called on the continent to create greater links between the industrial and services, adding that there still exists huge financial services trade control in the continent.
The Economic Development in Africa Report 2015 by UNCTAD says restrictiveness of trade in financial services varies widely among African countries and is highest in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Egypt.
On the other hand, it says, nations such as Zambia, Mauritius and Morocco have among the most open financial services trade regimes in the world.
The report indicates that Africa's small national markets need to consolidate in order to benefits from global financial value chains.
It finds that there is, however, growing internationalization of Africa banks and the resulting exposure to global financial crises, which calls for the region to incorporate mechanisms for financial crisis, prevention and resolution.
The UN body urged the continent to embrace other services such as the restaurant, hotel, tourism logistics and transport sectors to improve African nations' productivity.
Latest data from UNCTAD indicates that Africa is a marginal player in global services trade, accounting for 2.2 percent of global services exports and four percent of services imports. Endi