India set to become MENA's top trading partner by 2030: report

Ahram Online, Wednesday 9 Oct 2013

Manufactures, chemicals and mineral fuels will be the fastest-growing exports from Egypt to India between 2013 and 2030, according to HSBC forecast report

India will be the top export destination for Middle East and North African countries by 2030, according to HSBC's latest Trade Forecast report.

By then, the country will be the UAE's top export destination, accounting for 14 percent of exports, and Saudi Arabia's second largest export destination, accounting for 18.5 percent of exports, says the bank.

India is already the top destination for Egypt's exports, accounting for 15.4 percent, a position it is expected to maintain until 2030, according to HSBC.

"It’s no surprise that India is a top five trading partner with each nation in the MENA group," said regional head of commercial banking of HSBC in the Middle East and North Africa Tim Reid at the bank's MENA-India conference Wednesday.

"With its huge population, rapidly growing middle class, and capabilities in industrial and post-industrial sectors, India is a market with considerable potential," Reid said.

The Trade Forecast report predicts that the South Asian giant will overtake the United States by 2020 as the world's largest importer of goods for infrastructure. The country will require approximately $1 trillion worth of infrastructure investment by 2018, according to India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Though Egypt's "less developed economy and industrial base" means it not ideally poised to take advantage of India's infrastructure modernisation drive, equipment exports to India are expected to grow at a double digit annual rate until 2030.

Manufactures, chemicals and mineral fuels will be the fastest-growing export sectors, accounting for some 85 percent of the increase in exports from Egypt to India from 2013 to 2030.

On the other hand, India’s exports of infrastructure goods to Egypt are expected to grow by double-digits annually.

Indian exports to Egypt will also be some of the fastest growing from 2013 to 2030, with the most important being machinery and transport equipment and manufactures, which will account for 70 percent of the increase, the report projects.

Short link: