While the North Africa takes 15 billion dollars as its share from our trade with Africa, the share of Sub-Saharan Africa has reached 8.4 billion dollars. Compared to the previous year, the raise of approximately 800 million dollars was recorded in the trade with Sub-Saharan Africa; while there was experienced a loss about 700 million dollars in the trade with the North Africa.
Based on the data of the year 2013, the stability was protected in 2014 with an optimistic view; but with a more realistic view, our trade with Africa was increased only about 400 million dollars in the period of 2012 - 2014 and it has seen that the trade volume about 50 billion dollars said before for the end of 2015 isn’t a realistic target in the present conjuncture. Even if the said target is recently lied over 2018; it won’t be easy to rise the trade volume to double in the remained short time period.
While the essential trade partners of Turkey in Africa haven’t been in a change; Egypt, whose political relations with us have been passing through the hard times, has protected its place at the top with 4.8 billion dollars. Algeria (4.7 billion dollars), Nigeria ( 2.5 billion dollars), Libya ( 2.3 billion dollars), Morocco ( 2 billion dollars), the Republic of South Africa ( 1.7 billion dollars) and Tunis ( 1.1 billion dollars) have followed the said country in an order.
In 2014, the most attractive increases were seen in the trade with Nigeria and Algeria. Thus, the trade with Nigeria raises 900 million dollars; the increase about 440 million dollars was recorded in the trade with Algeria. However, there is a loss about 1.3 billion dollars in the trade with Libya; our trade with the Republic of South Africa was decreased 360 million dollars. Also there was not any remarkable change in the trade with Egypt and Tunis.
On the other hand, the orientation of our trade partners in the Africa continent paraleled to the targets has a great importance; there wasn’t any hopeful prospective development in our trade with the countries that has an important potential in this sense such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Tanzania.
Due to the factors such as extention of the field of activity across the continent; thanks to the increase of the flights to Africa by Turkish Airlines, our membership of African Development Bank and new representatives of TIKA; besides the Embassies and Business Consultants that have been mutually opened with African countries since 2009; the present potential was taken into the account, the said amount has supposed to be raised up more.
Ufuk Tepebaş, February 5, 2015
