2023-05-02 14:22:20
There are 237 SEZs or Special Economic Zones in Africa spread over 37 countries. Heirs to the free zones, they are considered the key to development, as was the case for China three decades ago. Yet with twenty years of hindsight, Senegalese and French economists draw up a mixed assessment of these SEZs.
In twenty years, they have grown like grass during the wintering period. Kenya has 61, Nigeria 38, Ethiopia 18. Special Economic Zones, the new name for free zones, are now larger and more globalized. Africa hopes, thanks to them, to repeat the feat of the Asian countries that have been champions of exporting SEZs for decades. But not all bring the expected benefits. This is analyzed in a report by Moubarack Lô, the director general of Senegal’s Economic Prospective Office. He believes that success stories are still rare.
« You will find them in Morocco, with the Tangier-Med zone which is a reference at the world level. In Mauritius, even if Mauritius has lost some of its vigor. In Ethiopia, a country that is emerging with Chinese and now European investments. The Nkok area in Gabon, in the field of wood which has made a breakthrough ».
Many called and few chosen. For Moubarack Lô the reason is that the SEZs are not specialized enough, built around a competitive advantage.
« If you want to move upmarket and be successful, you must necessarily specialize because what makes the success of the Moroccan model is the automobile. With world-class investors who came with their OEMs and suppliers. This is what has created hundreds of thousands of jobs. If you go to Ethiopia, they focused on textiles, leather. I think that with maturity, it is necessary to evolve towards a specialization for the success of the ZES ».
The total commitment of the state is also essential.
« The ZES that work, in general their great champion is either the Head of State or the Prime Minister. In any case it is to manage at the highest level of the State ».
Another pitfall to avoid. The first for export. With often foreign industries established within them, SEZs work for the global market. For Moubarack Lô the trap would be to forget the African market.
« Today, if you are in the ZES, you are sometimes allowed to sell up to 15%, 20% or 50% on the local market, but by paying the taxes that have been retroceded to you or that we have lifted beforehand. So, we have to make adjustments and be able to encourage African production. Because the first battle today is not exporting, it is how to develop the productive industrial base in Africa ».
The free trade area is a prime opportunity in this regard. The SEZs have the future ahead of them, believes Moubarack Lô.
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