Standard Bank reports African trade financing on the up

Sub-Saharan African trade flows are seeing increased transactions and trade financing despite challenges from weaker commodity prices according to Standard Bank.

Vinod Madhavan, head of transactional products and services at Standard Bank Group South Africa suggests that future projections remain strong despite trials.

“Although there are some testing times ahead, there are still a number of unique opportunities across the continent,” says Madhavan.

“Our growth rate for sub-Saharan Africa is still one of the fastest in the world.”

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures, Sub-Saharan Africa growth forecasts have been cut to 4% for this year and predicting 4.7% in its next report due in January contrary to previous forecasts of 4.3% and 4.9% respectively.
Madhavan also suggests that the region may face challenges from foreign institutions and investors de-risking their African exposures.

“Globally, risk has two aspects, real risk underpinned by fundamentals and ‘perceived’ risk.”
When looking at data points about Africa from the outside, the level of perceived risk will certainly be higher than those levels of risk as perceived by someone who is on the ground and understands the local nuances and fundamentals.”