Transport services (% of commercial service exports) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Transport services (% of commercial service exports) covers all transport services (sea, air, land, internal waterway, space, and pipeline) performed by residents of one economy for those of another and involving the carriage of passengers, movement of goods (freight), rental of carriers with crew, and related support and auxiliary services. Excluded are freight insurance, which is included in insurance services; goods procured in ports by nonresident carriers and repairs of transport equipment, which are included in goods; repairs of railway facilities, harbors, and airfield facilities, which are included in construction services; and rental of carriers without crew, which is included in other services.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Djibouti 81.67 2020
2 Mozambique 79.49 2020
3 Ethiopia 69.41 2020
4 Congo 59.33 2016
5 Tanzania 58.94 2020
6 Nigeria 58.12 2020
7 Mauritania 55.89 2020
8 Zimbabwe 55.67 2020
9 Egypt 49.61 2020
10 Côte d'Ivoire 42.73 2020
11 Benin 39.99 2020
12 Kenya 39.13 2020
13 Rwanda 38.65 2020
14 Libya 38.58 2019
15 Togo 37.88 2020
16 The Gambia 37.05 2021
17 Cameroon 36.59 2020
18 Central African Republic 34.07 1993
19 Sudan 32.66 2020
20 Tunisia 27.98 2020
21 Madagascar 27.94 2020
22 Dem. Rep. Congo 20.44 2020
23 Cabo Verde 20.13 2020
24 Algeria 18.32 2020
25 Eritrea 18.20 2000
26 Morocco 17.97 2020
27 Burkina Faso 17.45 2020
28 Seychelles 16.53 2020
29 South Africa 16.52 2020
30 Uganda 16.06 2020
31 Malawi 15.03 2020
32 Senegal 13.30 2018
33 Angola 12.73 2020
34 Sierra Leone 12.55 2020
35 Namibia 11.37 2020
36 Botswana 10.94 2020
37 Liberia 10.49 2009
38 Mauritius 10.21 2020
39 Lesotho 10.08 2021
40 Burundi 9.12 2018
41 Niger 8.68 2020
42 Zambia 8.31 2020
43 Comoros 8.19 2020
44 Ghana 6.81 2020
45 Gabon 5.89 2015
46 Chad 4.53 1994
47 São Tomé and Principe 3.87 2020
48 Mali 1.42 2020
49 Guinea-Bissau 0.81 2020
50 Eswatini 0.81 2020
51 Guinea 0.14 2020

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Development Relevance: Trade in services differs from trade in goods because services are produced and consumed at the same time. Thus services to a traveler may be consumed in the producing country (for example, use of a hotel room) but are classified as imports of the traveler's country. In other cases services may be supplied from a remote location; for example, insurance services may be supplied from one location and consumed in another.

Limitations and Exceptions: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data. Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, for example, are working together to improve the collection of statistics on trade in services in member countries. Still, difficulties in capturing all the dimensions of international trade in services mean that the record is likely to remain incomplete. Cross-border intrafirm service transactions, which are usually not captured in the balance of payments, have increased in recent years. An example is transnational corporations' use of mainframe computers around the clock for data processing, exploiting time zone differences between their home country and the host countries of their affiliates. Another important dimension of service trade not captured by conventional balance of payments statistics is establishment trade - sales in the host country by foreign affiliates. By contrast, cross-border intrafirm transactions in merchandise may be reported as exports or imports in the balance of payments.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions. The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6). Balance of payments data for 2005 onward will be presented in accord with the BPM6. The historical BPM5 data series will end with data for 2008, which can be accessed through the World Development Indicators archives. The complete balance of payments methodology can be accessed through the International Monetary Fund website (www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/bop.htm).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual