The Economics of Trust: Comoros and the UN’s Digital Trade Model – African Business Innovation

Geneva, October 23, 2025

At UNCTAD’s sixteenth ministerial conference, Comoros’s Minister of Economy, Industry, Investment and Economic Integration, H.E. Moustoifa Hassani Mohamed, spoke at ASYCUDA’s side event, “New technology to foster efficient, secure and sustainable trade.” His presence underscored an essential reality for small island economies: when digital customs become a public good rather than a commercial product, it can shift a country’s growth trajectory. For Comoros, that public good is ASYCUDA, the Automated System for Customs Data, UNCTAD’s largest technical assistance programme, now operating in 100-plus economies to automate clearance, build Single Windows, and generate reliable trade data for policy. 

Why the economics of digital customs matter in Comoros

With a GDP of around US$1.55 billion and a population near 867,000, Comoros is small, open, and import-reliant. Imports of goods and services regularly account for roughly a third to two-fifths of GDP, magnifying the macro impact of any friction at the border. Logistics capabilities remain constrained; the World Bank’s last Logistics Performance Index reading placed Comoros at 2.56/5, so shaving hours off clearance times has first-order effects on prices, fiscal revenue, and competitiveness.

From pilots to payoffs

UNCTAD’s approach is demand-driven and institutionally neutral: systems are tailored to a country’s laws and processes and implemented with national institutions. In Comoros, ASYCUDAWorld went live in 2017; the ASYCUDA Single Window followed, linking customs with agencies overseeing agriculture and fisheries, mining, and pharmaceuticals. During March–October 2020 alone, more than 1,800 licences were processed electronically. The National Research Institute on Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment reports automated controls rose to 70% of food imports from 30% a year earlier, governance gains that typically take years in larger markets. 

The numbers since 2020

Performance since the pandemic validates the reform thesis. Between 2020 and 2024, export and import transactions rose by 43% and 28% respectively, while customs revenues climbed 50% in 2022–2023 and a further 2.56% in 2023–2024, reaching KMF 40 billion (local reporting). Beyond revenue, the macro backdrop remains challenging, growth and external balances are sensitive to import prices and domestic shocks, but the direction of travel in border efficiency is unmistakable. (IMF staff also note volatility in 2024 revenue outturns, highlighting why durable digital reforms matter.) 

Standards, sovereignty, and scale

Two design choices explain the durability of ASYCUDA’s results. First, standards alignment: as a UN programme, ASYCUDA can cooperate with global rule-setters such as the World Customs Organization, the International Maritime Organization, and the Universal Postal Union, relationships that de-risk compliance for small administrations and avoid vendor-specific lock-ins. Second, sovereignty: countries retain control of their data and systems, with open components that national engineers can inspect and extend. In practice, that turns software into capacity, skills stay in the country, and improve with each upgrade cycle. 

Regional economics: from islands to corridors

Because ASYCUDA deployments share a common framework, they are technically interoperable and ready for future data harmonization. For Comoros, now a party to the AfCFTA, this matters less as a flip-of-a-switch integration and more as a steady reduction of transaction costs as rules, risk engines, and data definitions converge across borders. Capacity building and shared solutions through the COMESA–ASYCUDA Regional Centre in Lusaka accelerate that learning curve and spread best practices across member states. In a region where supply chains are increasingly corridor-based, being “AfCFTA-ready” is about predictable, digital border governance as much as tariff schedules. 

Headwinds, and why they don’t negate the thesis

There are frictions. Broadband coverage across the islands is uneven; user training must be continuous; and fiscal outcomes can still be buffeted by commodity prices and domestic politics. The point is not that digital customs solve macroeconomics. It is that predictable, rules-based trade administration is a foundational input into price stability, investment decisions, and regional market access, particularly where imports are a large GDP share and small firms’ margins are narrow. 

What’s next: moving up the value curve

The next phase is set to be financed through an EU-funded programme (2026–2028), jointly implemented by UNCTAD’s Division on Technology and Logistics and the Division on Investment and Enterprise. Priorities include onboarding five additional agencies to the Single Window, strengthening public-private monitoring of AfCFTA/WTO/EPA commitments, and launching a Single Electronic Window for Business Creation (GUECEI) to lower entry barriers for entrepreneurs. On the technology side, cloud-ready deployments, analytics dashboards, and AI-assisted risk management are being introduced to sharpen targeting and transparency. The policy aim is straightforward: turn administrative time into productive time, and paperwork into data that improves decisions. 

The development takeaway

For small, import-reliant economies, the dividend from border digitalization shows up in many places at once: prices, revenue, compliance, and firm-level certainty. Comoros’s experience suggests that when the enabling platform is treated as a public good and anchored in international standards, even thin markets can achieve thick institutions. That is what ultimately attracts capital: competence, not size.