The United Kingdom is the second largest investor in trade in Africa, to the tune of $36.8 billion. How will the UK’s exit from the European Union impact trade relations with the continent?
UK Trade Commissioner for Africa Emma Wade-Smith said ‘The UK will concentrate on building its stock of investments and growing Africa’s exports in order to narrow the deficit.We are working on bringing more investors to the continent to support African businesses to increase exports not just to the UK but also within Africa.
We want to boost intra-Africa trade by bringing down trade barriers and building a strong market for African products.One of the opportunities that the Brexit affords us is increased interest from UK companies in Africa as they have to expand outside their normal trading blocs.
Post Brexit, we will be in a position to have an independent trade policy that offers room for a lot of improvements from current arrangements.