Global Value Chains in Africa
Neil Foster-McGregor, Florian Kaulich & Robert Stehrer
#2015-024
This paper provides evidence on the extent of Global Value Chain (GVC)
participation by Africa as a region and for individual African
countries. We find that Africa as a whole is heavily involved in GVCs,
being more engaged in GVCs than many developing country regions as well
as developed countries such as the USA. This overall finding hides the
fact that much of Africa's participation in GVCs is in upstream
production, with African firms providing primary inputs to firms in
countries further down the value chain. The possibility of upgrading
within GVCs in Africa is likely to be limited therefore, something which
the current analysis suggests. Despite this, we observe a great deal of
heterogeneity in terms of GVC participation and upgrading across African
countries, with a number of African countries participating in GVCs to a
relatively large extent.
JEL Classification: F15, F23
Keywords: Africa, Global Value Chains, Upgrading