African countries urged to dismantle trade, movement barriers to spur growth

African economies must reduce trade barriers and make it easier for people and goods to cross borders to boost growth in the face of headwinds from a commodity price drop, African officials and delegates at the World Economic Forum in Rwanda said.

The International Monetary Fund said average growth in sub-Saharan Africa would fall to its lowest in nearly two decades this year, at 3 per cent, with commodity exporters struggling and government finances coming under pressure. “As we develop the regional markets in Africa, we’ll reduce the susceptibility of Africa to these global commodity price shocks,” African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina told a news conference in the Rwandan capital Kigali.