Informal cross-border trade (ICBT) represents a prominent phenomenon in Africa. Several studies suggest that for certain products and countries, the value of informal trade may meet or even exceed the value of formal trade. This paper provides a review of existing efforts to measure informal trade. We list 18 initiatives aimed at measuring ICBT in Africa. The paper also summarizes discussions conducted with many stakeholders in Africa between December 2016 and May 2018 regarding the measurement, the determinants, and the implications of ICBT. The methodologies used to measure ICBT in Africa differ widely, but they do confirm that informal trade in Africa is both sizeable and volatile. Both evidence on the determinants of ICBT and discussions with stakeholders suggest that policies should aim to reduce the existing costs associated with formal trade and provide positive incentives for traders and producers to move into the formal economy in order to avoid the loss of economic potential stemming from informal trade.

As ICBT appears to be so large and is heavily linked to food security, economic development, and women’s empowerment, it is important to obtain accurate measurements of this type of trade. More accurate data can improve the statistical measurements of balance of payments and external accounts, improving global trade measurement and modeling, and facilitate the development of more accurate domestic food balance sheets. Overall, measurement of ICBT in Africa can provide a more accurate picture of other aspects related to informal trade, including information on informal labor markets and movement patterns of staple foods during periods of crises. Each of these provides the opportunity for better policymaking using reliable and accurate data.

This timely Handbook comprehensively explores the complex relationships between trade and economic performance in developing countries, illustrating that it is not trade per se that is important but the context, at the firm, country and regional level, in which trade occurs.

International trade of food and agricultural products plays a major role in ensuring food security and livelihoods across the African continent. Yet formal intracontinental trade data give only a glimpse of trade’s importance for African consumers and producers because—depending on the country and bor-der—up to 99 percent of agricultural trade crosses borders informally.1 In West Africa, for example, an estimated 30 percent of staple foods evade formal customs, and the proportion can be much greater for highly perishable fruits and vegetables. Consequently, formal trade data paint only a limited picture of COVID-19’s disruptive effect on trade within the African continent—and of related nutrition and liveli-hood consequences. To better understand the current and future impacts on African food producers and consumers, we must examine both the magnitude and unique mechanisms of informal cross-bor-der trade (ICBT).

Zimbabwe has witnessed the rapid expansion of informal cross-border trading (ICBT) with neighbouring countries over the past two decades. Beginning in the mid-1990s when the country embarked on its Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), a large number of people were forced into informal employment through worsening economic conditions and the decline in formal sector jobs. The countrys post-2000 economic col-lapse resulted in the closure of many industries and created market opportunities for the further expansion of ICBT. This report, part of SAMPs Growing Informal Cities series, sought to provide a current picture of ICBT in Zimbabwe by interviewing a sample of 514 Harare-based informal entrepreneurs involved in cross-border trading with South Africa.

This study investigates the existence and volume of informal cross-border trade (ICBT) in the mainland SADC member states. The four basic research questions for the study were as follows: Is there informal cross-border trade among the mainland SADC member states? Do the informal traders (ICBTs) contribute to the SADC national economies and to the economies of the region as a whole, and is this revenue acknowledged by the SADC nation governments? Does the ICBT facilitate the new mission of SADC: the promotion of social, economic and political integration in the Southern African region? Lastly and perhaps most importantly have the SADC member states or SADC as an organisation formally put in place trade policies and regulations that promote the development of ICBT in the region? The study further explores the extent to which the cross-border ethnic relationships of ICBTs assist and facilitate the activities of the informal cross-border micro-trade. These questions are investigated within the context of SADC, a regional grouping with a long geo-political history as well as common colonial and socio-economic experiences that have all impacted on and restrained formal trade among SADC member states.

Four approaches to formalizing informal trade -based on policy and legislation, partnerships, rights, and incentives and compliance- presented via case studies and recommendations, including regulatory reform, limiting business licensing and tackling corruption.