Implementation may hamper Africa free trade area plans
Monday, February 26, 2018
Subject
Africa's Continental Free Trade Area.
Significance
An extraordinary African Union (AU) summit on March 21 is expected to see AU members sign an agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), after trade ministers agreed the overall framework in December. The CFTA is set to become the world’s largest single market, incorporating the AU’s 55 members, with a combined population of 1.2 billion and GDP of over 3.0 trillion dollars.
Impacts
- Full implementation of WTO’s trade facilitation agreement alongside CFTA could double intra-African trade volumes within a decade.
- Trade protectionism in the Trump and Brexit era could hasten uptake of CFTA to bolster Africa’s bargaining clout.
- Inter- (South Africa versus Nigeria) and intra- (Kenya versus Tanzania) regional rivalries will remain major risks.
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