Standard Bank’s newly launched Africa Trade Barometer places South Africa at the top of the list of ten countries, followed by Ghana and Mozambique in second and third places.

Kenya is placed fourth, Tanzania fifth, Uganda sixth, Namibia seventh, Nigeria eight and Zambia ninth, with Angola taking up the tenth position.

Standard Bank, currently active in 20 African markets, aims for the barometer to become the continent’s leading trade index.

The Africa Trade Barometer will initially focus on ten countries only.

The barometer, which Standard Bank will publish twice a year, encompasses comparative data on trade openness, access to finance, macroeconomic stability, infrastructure, foreign trade, governance, economy and trade finance behaviour.

Qualitative and quantitative intelligence gathered from 2 400 firms representing small and medium-sized enterprises, large family businesses, corporates and multinationals across all ten economies is analysed and then augmented with third-party sources, including the World Bank, the International Trade Centre, and individual countries’ central banks.

The report “presents one of the most comprehensive views of actual trade as experienced on the ground by real African businesses”, says Standard Bank Trade and Africa-China head Philip Myburgh.

Trends and analyses gleaned should also provide insight into the broader regions that the ten study markets represent.

Myburgh believes the barometer will prove to be a valuable resource for businesspeople, students, governments, nongovernmental organisations and investors, with Africa’s trade opportunity currently estimated at roughly $70-billion a year.

“We expect the Africa Trade Barometer to become the leading index of African trade trends, activities and developments as Africa’s small, medium and large businesses define the continent’s next stage of domestic growth and regional and global expansion.”