This paper offers an assessment of the status of services trade in Africa. It addresses three policy questions: how Africa has fared in services trade over the past decade relative to other regions of the world; who the key players and partners are; and which sectors are shaping Africa’s services trade.

Concentration of services trade:

Africa’s trade in commercial services remains very concentrated in a few countries. Over the last 11 years (2006–2016), only three countries—Egypt, South Africa, and Morocco—accounted for 55.5% of Africa’s exports; and five countries—Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria—accounted for 55% of Africa’s imports. The implication is that conditions facing those countries will continue to influence Africa’s services landscape.

Infrastructural constraints:

Second, infrastructural constraints (including low rates of access to the Internet and poor connectivity) have hindered the participation of African economies in the most dynamic segments of services trade, leading to high export concentration (in very few sectors such as transport, tourism, and travel-related services), heightening their vulnerability to external shocks.

Limited global influence:

Third, with less than 10% of the value of services produced in most countries entering the economy’s export basket, growth in the services sector will continue to have very limited influence on the world market (share in global service exports).

Reforms needed:

Reforms and programmes aimed at reducing trade barriers and the cost of trading across borders (raised by inefficient transport, border management, and logistics; poorly designed technical regulations and standards; and licensing requirements and processes, among others) would not only create opportunities to directly expand services exports but would also promote the development of competitive value chains of production across the region.