The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has launched an online platform that will provide economic and trade data on SACU Member States in Windhoek.
SACU Executive Secretary, Paulina Elago, at the launch on Tuesday said that the free platform will be accessible to all stakeholders including all members states like Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
According to Elago the development of the Trade and Statistical Database by the Secretariat was a direct response to the increasing requests for trade and economic data from external and internal stakeholders.
“The database provides a ‘onestop shop’ for all SACU members. These include data on merchandise trade, annual GDP growth rates, consumer price index and exchange rates, amongst others,” she added.
Furthermore, she said the portal will serve as a tool to monitor the performance of SACU member states in achieving the objective of economic development, industrialization and competitiveness.
“It will also inform the process of policy planning and development as well as trade negotiations,” she said.
Currently SACU is the oldest Customs Union still in operation, established in 1910 and represents 75 percent of SADC’s gross domestic product and has its headquarters in the Namibian capital Windhoek. Enditem
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(Via: NewsGhana)
