BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE – Eswatini is among 37 out of 52 countries in Africa that have industrialised in the past 11 years.
This is according to the newly-launch Africa Industrialisation Index of 2022 which was launched last week. The index indicated that Eswatini is the sixth most industrialised country in Africa. Eswatini is tied in the same rank as Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritius.
This is according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). The index was compiled in collaboration with the Africa Union and UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation).
Under ‘Africa Industrialisation Top 10 Countries by score 2022’, Eswatini is in fifth position, Senegal is on position four, Nigeria is on position three, Kenya is on number two and Namibia is on number five.
On the direct performance index, Eswatini was place on position five, Tunisia on position four, Egypt on position three, Morocco on position two and South Africa is on position one.
Eswatini ranking is attributed to high manufacturing value-added per capita, and not necessarily because of its economy.
The Africa Industrialisation Index (AII) report provides a country-level assessment of 52 African countries’ progress across 19 key indicators. The report will enable African governments to identify comparator countries to benchmark their own industrial performance and identify best practices more effectively.
The African Development Bank, the African Union and UNIDO jointly launched the inaugural edition of the AII on the side-lines of the African Union Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification in Niamey, Niger.
South Africa maintained a high ranking, followed closely by Morocco.
According to the AfDB official website, Abdu Mukhtar, African Development Bank Director for Industrial and Trade Development represented the institution at the launch event.
He said that while Africa had shown encouraging progress in industrialisation over the 2010-2022 periods, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had set back its efforts and highlighted gaps in production systems.
“The continent has a unique opportunity to sort out this dependency by further integrating and conquering its own emerging markets.”
He also said the African Continental Free Trade Area was creating a once-in-a-lifetime single market opportunity of 1.3 billion people
The African Development Bank has invested up to US$8 billion over the past 5 years under its Industrialize Africa High-5 priority.
“In the pharma-sector alone, we intend to spend at least $3 billion by 2030,” Mukhtar said.
Building productive industry will be integral to Africa’s development, offering a path to accelerated structural transformation, creating formal jobs at scale and inclusive growth. However, Africa’s share of global manufacturing has declined to the current level of less than two per cent. More proactive industrial policies are seen as critical to reversing the trend, but these are knowledge-intensive and require a detailed understanding of the constraints and opportunities that each country faces.
According to the AfDB website, the Africa Industrialisation Index was one of two new tools presented during the event. The second, and complementary, African Industry Observatory, unveiled by UNIDO and the African Union, will serve as a central online knowledge platform to collect, analyse and consolidate the quantitative data needed for qualitative analyses of national, regional and pan-continental industry trends, forecasts and comparisons.
Chiza Charles Chiumya, the African Union Commission’s Acting Director for Industry, Minerals, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, said these tools were going to greatly enhance our industrial policymaking as well as help to bring in the required focus that industrialization needs both from policymakers as well as the private sector, who will now clearly see where the continent has opportunities.”
Last week, this publication revealed that Eswatini was ranked position five of the fastest growing economies in Africa with a GDP growth of 7.43 per cent.
When sought for comment, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Thabisile Mlangeni, said these statistics simply showed that Eswatini sprung back swiftly from the effects of COVID-19.
“We are happy that the country has been placed in the map with regards to quick economic recovery,” said Mlangeni.
She went on to reveal that the above mentioned ministry was developing a ‘National Development Plan’, which was a strategy for the country to continue having a quick growing GDP. “The strategy is meant to guide government spending and the private sector in creating entrepreneurship and employment opportunities,” said the PS.
