As we focus on post-covid, discussions on economic recovery can not take place without a look at international trade which has been seen as essential to any nation’s development.
In Africa, there have been various epochs to develop and modern Africa starting from Political Pan Africanism Decolonization; Adopting Economic Pan Africanism, 1991 to 2013; Adaptation of the Abuja Treaty, for establishing the African Economic Community by 2028; the formation of the African Union, 2000- 2002; the adopted Agenda 2063 in 2013, to have the Africa We Want by 2063 and now the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), 2015 – 2020.
While a few efforts were made to liberalize intra-African trade through, inter alia, a patchwork of regional integration bodies with their preferential trading rules, intra-African trade remained at a very low level as a consequence of high tariff and non-tariff barriers.
Economic experts argue that Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCTA), has great potential in ensuring a sustainable economic recovery post-covid.
AfCTA brings to the continent a single African market of 55 countries, covering trade in goods and services, dispute settlement, investment, intellectual property, competition, and e-commerce. On top of that, Africa has 60 percent of the world’s arable land natural resources which can be explored for value chain.
Based on the value it has by making Africa the fifth biggest economy in the world, it can accelerate industries, SMEs, and corporates to recover the post-pandemic. It also has high returns on investment, at 6.5 percent higher than in developed countries at 6.0 percent (ODI). Moreover, AfCTA brings to the continent, a US$ 3.4 trillion economy, consumer, and business spending at US$ 4 trillion annually as well as 1.2 billion consumers.
Since the protocol is legally binding, this means that by signing the AfCTA, the region has created a single liberalized and common market for goods and services, facilitated by the movement of persons, to deepen the economic integration of the continent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), projects post-Covid regional economic growth at 3.1 percent in 2021. According to a report by the World Bank, AfCTA, if implemented well, will pull 30 million people out of extreme poverty and improve the lives of 68 million people living on less than US$ 5 per day.
This is, however, a call for every country in the continent to adopt the new normal in addressing challenges facing the trade in Africa. For example, overcoming the existing challenges to informal cross-border trade and harness the potential of such trade to support income generation, job creation, structural transformation, and food security on the continent.
it is also crucial to ensure inclusivity in the implementation AfCTA by involving other stakeholders including women, youth, the private sector, civil society, academia, parliamentarians, and cooperating partners.
However, lack of harmonization of economic and social policies can delay the region’s implementation of AfCTA especially in making the partner states incorporate regional agreements into national policies. For example; the policies of liberalization, privatization, and deregulation are almost exclusively national in scope, as they have obliged each partner state to negotiate separately with its external financing institutions, but with no reference to regional dimensions.
The region should establish a free movement of capital and persons and facilitate investments by building on the initiatives and developments in the State Parties and RECs. This can help lay the foundation for the establishment of a Continental Customs Union at a later stage, while at the same time promoting and attaining sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality, and structural transformation of the state parties.
In terms of product movement, AfCTA will be able to give companies access to markets that are larger than colonially imposed national boundaries. It can also help create the 20 million to 30 million jobs needed each year to accommodate the waves of young people entering the labour market.
The one-block economic market will also boost intra-African trade from 15 percent to at least 25 percent within the next 10 years, thus protecting the continent from external shocks like changes in commodity prices or exchange rates.
It will help every country to adopt Use the AfCFTA trade instruments e.g., AfCTA Certificate of Origin, and declare them under the AfCTA on the customs document. African governments will also need to form and join active public private-academia partnerships to work closely with the Secretariats of AfCTA and the regional economic communities and continuously improve the AfCTA trading regime so that it is equitable and no one is left behind.
Article By: Dr. Francis Mangeni, Head of Trade Promotion and Programs, AfCTA
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