More S.A Firms Foray
Into Nigerian Market
The
Chief Executive Officer of the South Africa-Nigeria Chamber of
Commerce, Ms Diana Games, has said the interest of South African
companies in the Nigerian market grew considerably in Year 2009.
Ms Games said in an interview in Johannesburg, that the slowdown
in the South African economy in the year did not prevent
increased foray into Nigeria by South African firms.
She said there had continued to be increased enquiry to the
Chamber on the potential of the Nigerian market, while Nigerian
firms had also upped their search for equity partners.
‘Faring Well’
Games said that while inroads by South African firms into
Nigeria grew, the chamber was concerned about allegations that
Nigerians were ‘somehow deliberately being blocked from
investing in South Africa’.
She said the chamber believed, however, that these were isolated
cases and promised to facilitate an inroad for such businesses
if brought to her attention.
Ms. Games said that trade balance between both countries was not
only a matter of increasing the number of Nigerian companies
doing business in South Africa.
’’Trade and investment is not a numbers game but a complex web
of interconnected interests,'' she said.
Games said that there were in fact many Nigerians who had
investments in various sectors of the South African economy and
who owned many companies and employed South Africans.
Ease barriers
Games said that both countries should, however, look into
easing visa bottlenecks, especially with the repatriation fees
Nigeria reciprocated by introducing this year.
’’We are concerned that the visa situation between the countries
has not only not been sorted out by the high-level Bi-national
Commission meetings, which are in their 10th year, but that the
situation has been made worse with Nigeria's retaliation on the
visa front,’’ she said.
Nevertheless, Games said the commission had helped in making
both countries understand each other better.
Statistics
Statistics from South Africa’s Department of Trade and
Investments indicate that trade between both countries stood at
12.8 billion Rands (about N256 billion) as at September.
South African exports to Nigeria accounted for 4.2 billion Rands
(about N84 billion), while imports accounted for 8.6 billion
Rands (about N172 billion).
According to the statistics, South African exports to Nigeria,
ranked the sixth largest, accounting for 6.3 per cent of the
total exports as at September.
Nigerian imports ranked the largest, accounting for 33.1 per
cent of the total imports during the period.
Since 1999 when trade and investments between both countries
stood at 1.7 billion Rands (about N34 billion), the volume of
trade has continued to witness substantive growth.
NAN/Yinka
