Covid-19 pandemic and international commerce in Southern Africa: documentary review

Abstract

International commerce across southern Africa has increased significantly in recent years. This phenomenon has been replicating what has been happening on the African continent as a whole, and it does indicate that the region has significant growth in economic opportunities. Hence, the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted international commerce and caused significant concern. The emphasis of this work was on the global economic interconnectivity in the Southern African region prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The main objective of this study was to determine how the Covid-19 pandemic influenced international commerce in Southern Africa. The study was qualitative in nature, as well as secondary data collection methods were used. The research used a documentary review as its analysis method. This included compiling and analysing more than 60 online resources relating to various and relevant the Covid-19 pandemic and international commerce from several past research. The study found that the world economy, particularly the economies of Southern African nations, was encountering certain difficulties before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was stated that as a consequence of the pandemic, Southern African countries implemented a slew of steps in an effort to overcome the issues posed by the Covid-19 pandemic interruptions.