THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
German-African trade reached a new record level in 2022, according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office.
Exports from Germany to African countries last year were 14.5 per cent above those of the previous year at 26.4 billion euros. The increase in imports from the continent was even more pronounced at 27.4 per cent to 33.4 billion euros.
The trade volume therefore for 2022 was 59.8 billion euros, 21.3 per cent above the previous year’s figure of around 49 billion euros.
“We consider it positive that both imports and exports increased significantly, even though rising commodity prices played a major role in imports,” said Christoph Kannengießer, Managing Director of the Africa Association of German Business (Afrika-Verein), commenting on the recently published foreign trade figures.
“For us, the figures show that African countries are gaining in importance for the German economy and that African countries have a growing interest in co-operating with Germany,” he added.
“The official trade figures also confirm the positive balance sheet of our member companies for 2022. In a survey, more than 63 percent of them were satisfied with their Africa activities. 43 percent intend to invest more in their African business in 2023. The new record figures also show that, despite the economic crisis mode, German companies have been able to build on the pre-crisis years of 2018 and 2019 in their African business,” Kannengießer said.
He called for “more favourable export credit guarantees for trade with African partners” to make German companies more competitive in the continent.
“By simultaneously expanding the investment guarantees of the German government and other instruments of foreign trade promotion, the leap from trade to investment and thus the creation of jobs in African countries can also be increasingly successful,” Kannengießer added. “For 2023, we hope for far-reaching reforms in favour of increased activities by German companies and their African partners, as well as a high-level Africa summit with a focus on trade and investment.”
Germany imports mineral ores, agricultural products, crude oil and natural gas from Africa, while it exports vehicles, vehicle parts, machines, chemical products and electrical engineering equipment to the continent.
Sola Jolaoso
