Morocco leads Africa in digital trade surpluses, with $26 billion 20-year cumulative gain

  • Morocco achieved the highest cumulative surplus in Africa’s digital trade at $26.4 billion between 2005 and 2024.
  • Mauritius and Tunisia followed distantly with surpluses of $8.7 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively.
  • Nigeria and Angola recorded the deepest deficits, each exceeding $90 billion cumulatively.
  • Africa’s overall digital trade balance remained negative, averaging a -$618 million deficit in 2024.
  • Smaller economies like Kenya and Togo managed modest but consistent surpluses over the years.

Morocco has built a commanding lead in Africa’s digital services trade, recording a cumulative surplus of $26.4 billion between 2005 and 2024. This places it far ahead of Mauritius ($8.7 billion) and Tunisia ($4.4 billion), cementing its role as the continent’s most competitive digital exporter.

In 2024 alone, Morocco posted a surplus of $3.56 billion, the highest in Africa, ahead of Mauritius ($2.65 billion) and Tunisia ($621 million). Other countries like Kenya ($1.9 billion) and Togo ($1.1 billion) also managed to sustain long-term surpluses, but at much smaller scales.

On the flip side, Africa’s largest economies carry the deepest deficits. Nigeria (-$94.5 billion), Angola (-$97.8 billion), and Egypt (-$55.9 billion) have seen decades of heavy outflows on digital services, while South Africa (-$37.2 billion) and Algeria (-$28.4 billion) also rank among the biggest laggards.

Morocco’s cumulative strength shows that consistent investment in digital exports—particularly IT-enabled services and outsourcing—can turn the tide, even in a region where the overall trend remains negative.

Source:

World Trade Organization (WTO)

Period:

2005-2024
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