AfCFTA offering African countries opportunity to break into supply chains

AFRICA has an opportunity to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to break into supply chains that would not have been possible before.

Africa is at the tip of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and this is happening at a time the continent is grappling with challenges of limited internet access and poor infrastructure.

This was observed by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist, Hanan Morsy.

Ms Morsy talked about how critical the Fourth Industrial Revolution was for Africa to improve access to digital services and also address the skills and education gap.

She said this at the closing of the Experts Segment of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development last week in Ethiopia.

She, however, noted that, Africa could not accelerate industrialisation and address food insecurity without addressing the huge energy gap.

Mr Morsy observed that challenges remained in terms of regulatory reforms needed to advance the implementation of the agreement on non-tariff barriers, the high cost of doing business, political impediments and connectivity challenges.

“Policy makers must consider the game changers for advancing the implementation of the free trade agreement which include developing and advancing cross border payments systems, high cost of transportation across Africa and using the AfCFTA agreement to advance the development of carbon markets,” she said.

Launched in 2018 by African countries, the AfCFTA is a free trade area to create a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately US$3.4 trillion.

The Agreement entered into force in 2019.

At its full realization, the AfCFTA with the mandate of eliminating trade barriers, will bring together the 55 African Union member states.