This archive report was first published on 3 December 2019.
Published on December 3, 2019, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been hailed as a supreme instrument for increased intra-Africa trade. However, its success depends on actual implementation, not just discussions.
With the dwindling demand for African goods in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, the continent has been forced to seek African solutions to its trade problems. The AfCFTA, which came into formal existence on May 30, 2019, is a testament to the overall goodwill and realization among African states that the time for increased intra-Africa trade has arrived.
According to the East African Community Trade and Investment Report 2018, the value of trade between EAC partner states increased to $5.98 billion in 2018 from $5.46 billion in 2017, a 9.4 percent growth. This growth is a significant step towards achieving the AfCFTA's objectives.
However, the actual implementation of the AfCFTA is crucial for its success. As Prof. Ken Walibora, the director of the Global and Languages Studies Centre at Riara University, notes, it is the actual implementation that will make or break Africa's trade prospects in the global scheme of things.
With a potential market of 1.5 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of $2.5 billion, Africa has the potential to compete effectively with the rest of the world and excel by trading with itself. The birth of AfCFTA is in tandem with the hopes and aspirations of the founding fathers of the independent African states, who envisaged an Africa increasing trading with itself to be in tune with the rest of the world.
