Addis Ababa, December 8, 2015 (WIC) – Rome, Dec. 7 – Italian export
credit agency SACE will join Italian companies on a mission to Ghana and Ethiopia, organised by the Ministry of Economic Development and led by Vice Minister Carlo Calenda.
The agency announced in a statement that Sub-Saharan Africa is an important market for the future and that the government mission confirms the attractiveness of this region for Italian companies.
The Italian government has launched several initiatives to boost exports to the region, which reached a billion euros in the third quarter of 2015, almost four times as much as in the same period of 2014. In 2014, Italian exports to Ghana amounted to 160 million euros. In the first eight months of 2015, these grew by 30 percent over the previous year.
The main sectors for Italian exports were mechanical engineering, food and metallurgy. Ghana’s mining sector offers the best opportunities for Italian companies as the number of gold mines is expanding and oil and gas production are strengthened, leading to further growth in related industries.
As for Ethiopia, the country’s Growth and Transformation Plan 2015-20 aims to boost industrialisation, opening great opportunities for Italian exports – in particular mechanical engineering related to sectors such as textiles and clothing, leather and tannery, chemical and pharmaceutical products.
In 2014, Italian exports to Ethiopia amounted to 263 million euros, in line with the previous year, and concerned in particular mechanical engineering, transport and electrical appliances. SACE has set up the ‘Frontier Markets’ programme in sub-Saharan Africa, dedicated especially to SMEs. The agency offers assistance from its offices in Johannesburg and Nairobi and provides lines of credit to companies to support business with local partners.
It also supplies consultancy services to evaluate the sectors with the greatest potential and the underlying risks (credit, political, regulatory, environmental). SACE also offers financial and insurance solutions to support individual transactions and investment, and organises seminars, business matching meetings and lectures that give background information on specific areas (AGI).