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Monday, May 04,
2020 / 10:44 AM / by CSL Research / Header Image Credit: Businesslive
According to local media reports, the newly elected
Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)
secretariat, Wamkele Mene, revealed that the implementation of AfCFTA agreement
will not begin on July 1st 2020 as planned due to disruptions caused by the
global pandemic. We recall the agreement which entered its operational phase on
July 7, 2019 was expected to kick start in July 2020, following the
ratification by 54 of all 55 African countries. It was also reported that the AU
summit which was scheduled to hold in South Africa on 30th May to encourage
trade negotiators to complete their bargaining on tariff reductions, rules of
origin and other necessary regulations has been postponed.
The AfCFTA agreement, which is aimed at removing trade
barriers and in turn boosting intra-Africa trade, was brokered by African Union
(AU) and signed on by 44 of its 55 member states in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21,
2018. President Muhammadu Buhari, in July 2019, after initially withdrawing
assent, signed the agreement at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly
of the African Union in Niger Republic.
The agreement requires members to remove tariffs from 90%
of goods traded, allowing free access to commodities, goods, and services
across the continent. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
elimination of tariffs could boost trade in Africa by 15-25% in the medium
term. Once operational, the agreement is expected to create a US$3.4 trillion
economic bloc, connecting 1.3 billion people across Africa, which would make it
the largest trading bloc since the World Trade Organization was formed in 1994.
Specifically for Nigeria, the agreement was expected to
open up the African market for key manufacturing companies in the country to support
export sales whilst also raising the prospects of attracting foreign direct
investment across the value chain and different compartments in the
manufacturing sector. Although, the delay in implementation implies these
benefits will not be seen in the short to medium term, we think it gives the
country ample time to accelerate investment in critical infrastructure that
will reduce the cost of producing goods locally and improve the competitiveness
of local manufacturers. In our view, African countries with the requisite
infrastructure neeeded for large scale manufacturing activities will be better
placed to attract foreign capital from multinational companies who are seeking
to establish manufacturing hubs in to Africa to take advantage of economies of scale
as well as the benefit associated with the absence of regional taxes made
possible by AfCFTA.
Related to AfCFTA
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