Nigeria rated low in economic integration in sub-Sahara Africa

The index report which was carried out jointly with African Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and the Economic Forum measured the degree of economic integration within key trade interaction in sub-Saharan Africa and examined performances of 11 countries from West, East and Southern Africa.
According to the report, Nigeria integration score was relatively stagnant from the beginning of 2011 till the end of 2012.
The report identified Nigeria’s economy as one of the key drivers of integration in continent and as one of the primary forces of African integration to the rest of the world.
Nigeria according to the report will benefit immensely from greater integration as its growing market matures and modernised.
Ade Ashaye, country Manager for Visa in West Africa at an official unveiling of the report in Lagos said the firm decided to carry out the survey to make information and economic statistics about Africa countries available.
He noted that affected countries will find the report useful in their economic policies formation based on the growing evidence that supports the argument that cross-border interactions or openness drives economic growth and social economic advancement.
Ashaye said, “Our objective was to construct an index for a number of selected sub-Saharan African countries to measure their global and regional integration based on recent data. We want to better understand Africa to help unleash the enormous growth potential in electronic payments on the continent, now the heart of the developing world.”
He said Visa Africa Integration Index is relevant in view of the release of Africa Competitiveness Report 2013 earlier this year.