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growing demand for services as an input in quickly growing productive sectors, while a low level of services exports may suggest that more domestic services are being used to relieve supply bottlenecks in the domestic economy. Figure 4 shows the distribution of imports and exports of services in Africa in 2013. The five major imports subsectors in 2013 were transport, travel, construction, government services and other business services. Together, these five subsectors accounted for about 72 per cent of total services imports in Africa. The five major exports subsectors were travel, transport, government services, other business services and communications, which totalled 87 per cent. This chapter highlights, through a series of stylized facts, the actual contribution of the services sector to African economies in terms of output, employment and exports. The services sector has the potential to contribute to structural transformation, economic growth and development in Africa if concerted efforts are made to tackle sectoral informality, generate more formal jobs and implement development strategies. African countries should aim to exploit the potential complementarities and linkages between the services sector and other productive sectors of the economy. Policies should also facilitate the insertion of African services suppliers into global value chains and regional value chains in both goods and services.