MIGA helps Madagascar increase efficiency in trade transactions

The guarantee is for a project—Gasy Community Network Services S.A. (G@synet)—that will introduce modern technology in trade transactions in Madagascar. A state-of-the-art software platform called TradeNet will link the various parties involved in external trade—customs, ministries, banks and traders—into a single data network.

“Automating the customs clearance process will reduce inefficient customs procedures that impede access to markets and unnecessarily increase costs in Madagascar,” says Noureddin Ennaboulssi, Underwriter at MIGA. “Increased efficiency and transparency in trade transactions will help make the Malagasy economy more competitive.”

The project also has a Destination Inspection component, under which three mobile inspection scanners will be deployed at the ports of Mahajanga on the west coast of Madagascar, Toliara in the southwest, and Toamasina on the east coast. The scanners will allow non-intrusive examination of imports and exports.

The project is expected to lead to better governance; more accurate trade information and statistics; reduced human intervention and paper handling; better detection of irregularities and fraud; and increased transparency and accountability. Given the small size of the domestic market, trade and expansion of exports is a critical condition for private sector development, sustained high growth, and poverty alleviation in Madagascar.

“As part of the World Bank Group, MIGA is committed to removing constraints to investment and growth in Madagascar,” says Yukiko Omura, MIGA's Executive Vice President. “We are pleased that MIGA's risk mitigation tools are playing an important role in securing the investments necessary to make a developmentally beneficial project like this a reality.”

Other projects being supported by MIGA in Madagascar include a cotton project; a power plant; and the acquisition, modernization, and expansion of a hotel designed to attract greater numbers of tourists to the country.