Zimpapers Logo

JOHANNESBURG. – Africa has a significant way to go if all countries are to reach the frontier of what the best performers are achieving in the area of regional integration.

Out of all the Regional Economic Communities, the East African Community was cited as the most-integrated.

The greatest divergence in regional performance is in the area of financial integration and macroeconomic policy convergence.

Interestingly, countries with the largest economies do not always perform the best.

The Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII) Report, Africa’s first effort to measure progress on regional integration, was launched in Addis Ababa during African Development Week.

The weeklong conference, convened by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union Commission (AUC), discusses some of the most important policy issues relating to development.

The ARII is collaborative effort between the African Development Bank (AfDB), the AUC and ECA to collect data on the impacts of regional integration.

Although regional integration is often cited as a key component of economic transformation, up until now, no mechanisms existed to systematically measure how different African countries and regions fared. This flagship report assesses the current situation on the continent and highlights the best practices and gaps.

The ARII looks at 16 indicators across 5 broad dimensions which are trade integration, productive integration, regional infrastructure, free movement of people, and financial integration. – BizAfrica.