A Brief Review of India-Africa Bilateral Trade in the Context of COVID-19

Abstract

India and Africa are two regions embarking on a compatible growth trajectory, offering immense potential for mutual exchange and trade complementarities. In the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts were on their way toward acknowledging the shared social, economic and demographic commonalities between the regions, and toward strengthening of strategic, economic and trade ties. Subsequent waves of the pandemic have definitely affected production, cross-border trade and mobility of factors and finances across the two regions, thereby, stalling growth and developmental benefits that could have emanated from complementary exchanges. Though nothing can be said for sure, at present, about the prospects of Indo-African trade in the post-pandemic global arena, untapped energy potentials and newer avenues of exchanges, as in the field of medicines, can be seen as holding prominence.