Last year African countries signed an agreement aimed at increasing trade between them. If implemented successfully, they believe it could create a single African market of over a billion consumers.
The plan is that services and goods should be flowing freely in and out of the participating countries, making the continent the biggest free trade area in the world.
The free trade initiative could create an integrated market with a total GDP of over $3 trillion (£2.3 trillion), according to US think tank Brookings.
Currently, Africa lags behind other regions of the world in terms of continental trade. According to the African Development Bank (ADB), intra-Africa exports amount to only 16.6% of total trade.
Unfortunately, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) did not kick off on 1 July as originally scheduled, due to the coronavirus crisis, but there are other reasons for the stall. Read more…
