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RESTRICTION:  Kenya is among 16 countries in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) region which continue to implement multiple export restrictions to support domestic economic development goals, World Bank report says.The bank reveals in a report dubbed Africa’s Resource Future; Harnessing Natural Resources for Economic Transformation during the Low-Carbon Transition, that Since 2009, the severity of export restrictions on raw commodities has increased in SSA.

However, the report notes that most of these countries have not exploited the resources well to mobilise more revenue and support their economies, for example in debt clearance.

The report names Kenya as one of the eight countries that have maintained export ban.

Processing capacity

The bank confirmed that Kenya, Angola, Burundi, Congo, Dem. Rep, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria and Rwanda are countries that have maintained export bans while Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe employed export tax. James Cust, a senior economist at the World Bank and co-editor of the report said the restrictions have been necessitated by a number of factors including lack of processing capacity.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) global database has 79 countries that export raw minerals and metals. Of the 19 sub-Saharan African countries included in the database, all but one had some type of restriction on exporting raw minerals and metals in 2020 (OECD 2020).  –