Browsing: AfCFTA

In practical reality, it aims at creating a continental market for goods and services, with free movement of businesspeople and investments in Africa.

Several reports indicate that the summit strives to bring Africa and Europe closer together through strengthening economic cooperation and promoting sustainable development, with both continents co-existing in peace, security, democracy, prosperity, solidarity and human dignity.

It is against this backdrop that the two partners are determined to work together on a strategic, long-term footing to develop a shared vision for EU-Africa relations in a globalized world.…

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that British businesses would support Africa to flourish with the green industrial revolution. The irony of this is that the UK hosted COP26 in Glasgow last November. The outcomes were disappointing for Africa which suffers the brunt of climate change.
While partnerships are necessary for development, the type, objectives, and interests of the participants are critical elements in deciding the outcome. Africa’s interests have always come last.
The partnerships for development are essential to addressing Africa’s development issues and trade growth. But there are too many conditions, usually. These include impositions in development cooperation for Africa. …

To discourage the use of firewood and charcoal, the European Union (EU) has committed to fund renewable energy solutions specifically designed to set up and support a sustainable cooking solution program.

EU Head of Delegation to Tanzania, Ambassador Manfredo Fanti announced the EU led program late last year in the capital, Dodoma. At the launch, the diplomat said the initiative is part of the EU’s efforts to mitigate climate change through the use of renewable energy solutions for cooking.

However, what is interesting here is that increase in the use of firewood and charcoal is not in rural Tanzania but in the urban centres.…

Africa is a busy geopolitical arena, with many players operating.
Russia has to compete against them, and distinctively remain focused its efforts. Russia welcomes diplomatic support from African countries, and unlike the West, it does not demand good governance or advocate for human rights reforms.
Russia likes to portray itself as not interfering in local politics or judging African countries, even though there is mounting evidence that it has been involved in meddling in elections in Africa through disinformation, fake news and attempting to exploit fault lines in societies through social media.…

Africa has for decades failed to provide improved trade mechanisms between African countries which has led to the current situation. The AfCFTA is supposed to remedy this.
And to be in good shape for trade under AfCFTA, countries have to ensure that they are willing to create value chains that will free the continent from the colonial trading system which has been in place for over 60 years and which has left the continent vulnerable.
With the potential benefits that the AfCFTA ha to offer Africa, the biggest trends that will drive growth on the continent include its population, technology and urbanisation among other factors.…

As a result of these and other reasons, the region’s economy is anticipated to recover faster than expected, according to the analysis.
Free trade is projected to play a critical role in Africa’s rapid integration into regional and global industrial and value chains during the next 12 months, according to the report
With AfCFTA fully implemented, the World Bank projects that Africa’s gross production will rise by about US$212 billion above the baseline by 2035, with manufacturing exports increasing by 62 per cent and internal trade in manufactured goods increasing by 110 per cent.…

The training programme was launched during the Intra-African Trade Fair 2021 (IATF2021), taking place in Durban, South Africa from November 17 to 21. For previously under-represented populations, the training programme strives to break down barriers to commerce.
The AfCFTA’s ‘How to Export with the AfCFTA training programme’ was designed with African businesses in mind. Small enterprises will be equipped with the tools they need to take advantage of the new trading climate and the AfCFTA’s operationalization.
In 2020, Afreximbank and ITC begun a trial programme in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Rwanda as a test of this new programme concept. There were around 1,500 applications for the course within the first few days of its release, indicating a strong degree of interest in its subject.…

Ramaphosa added that Africa is now taking concrete steps to write its own economic success story and the Intra-African Trade Fair is part of that story.
With Africa opening up new fields of opportunity, Ramaphosa said that seeing more of ‘made in Africa labels’ is critical if the continent is to change the distorted trade relationship that exists between African countries and the rest of the world.
He emphasised that the situation where Africa keeps exporting raw materials while importing finished goods from those materials is no longer tenable. By promoting trade in Africa, he said, “we strengthen our own industrial base and produce goods for ourselves and for each other”.…

The lack of harmonised standards, failure to implement the Single African Air Transport Market (Saatm) and the export of raw commodities remain the continent’s biggest obstacles to trade.

In addition, African countries have some of the most rigid visa and work permit requirements, they have multiple testing agencies and erect unnecessary roadblocks for random checks along transport corridors which increases the cost of cross-border trade.

This, eventually, deals a blow to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which also happen to be the backbone of the continent’s economy.…

According to the IMF World Economic Outlook report published in July 2021, the global economy is projected to grow 6.0 per cent in 2021 and 4.9 per cent in 2022 and this global forecast is unchanged from April 2021 projections.

These statistics show a positive recovery of the global economy and no signal of economic collapse so far, despite the third consecutive fall in the average rating of financial centres as shown by the Global Financial Centres Index 30 report.…