Trending
- East Africa elated as the 2027 Pamoja AFCON bid prevails
- Young African queens reshaping the continent’s global influence
- Energy outlook: access to electricity in Africa still short of SDG7
- Tanzania’s ambitious journey to energy riches
- Nigeria bets big on Fluenta technology to regulate flare gas emissions
- Depreciating shilling worsens Kenya’s debt and economic struggles
- High fuel prices in South Africa to worsen inflation
- M-Mama’s life-saving journey reaches Malawi
Browsing: African Continental Free Trade Area
AfCFTA will diversify exports, accelerate growth and it will competitively integrate into the global economy. This will increase foreign direct investment (FDI), increase employment opportunities and incomes while also broadening economic inclusion.
Projected estimates show that the FTA will increase Africa’s exports by US$560 billion with manufacturing accounting for the lion’s share. While has had limited trade within itself, the agreement will see intra-continental exports increase by 81 per cent and by 19 per cent to non-African countries.…
Covid-19 has hit small businesses hardest and around the world, many are either still struggling or they have already shut down almost two years after the pandemic started.
The pandemic has caused large-scale loss of life and severe human suffering globally and as the largest public health crisis in our time, the pandemic has also generated a major economic crisis. 2020 saw a halt in production in affected countries, a collapse in consumption and confidence, and stock exchanges responding negatively to heightened uncertainties.
In Africa, things are no different and despite the hit by the pandemic, a June 2021 African Development Bank (AfDB) White Paper, Entrepreneurship and Free Trade: Africa’s Catalysts for a New Era of Economic Prosperity, states that entrepreneurship must be at the heart of efforts to transform Africa’s economic prospects.
Read: Why Kenya’s small businesses are choking
The Covid-19 crisis has triggered shifts that open up …
In the years from 2014 and 2018, China was Africa’s biggest FDI source estimated at 16 per cent of all FDI into the continent. The Chinese represented the main source of FDI into the continent with the United States and France holding eight per cent of the total FDI.
With Covid-19 hitting the continent in March 2020, the cascading health and economic challenges on the continent has significantly affected FDI inflows.…
A report launched in April 2021 on the US-Kenya trade negotiations analysing the implications for the future of the US-Africa trade relationship shows that if successful, the FTA would represent the most significant innovation in US-African trade relations since the enactment of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade preference programme in 2000.
With a new administration taking over in the US following an election where Trump lost to President Joe Biden, an agreement has yet to be reached. This presents the Biden administration with a decision on whether to continue negotiations with Kenya.…
AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene notes that a uniform payments platform will eliminate the costly process on converting currencies which contributes to the inefficient trade patterns on the continent.
In addition to this good news, the Covid-19 pandemic was a silver lining for Africa’s integration since the continent has to create its own solutions to its problems. As such, Africa needs not only to harmonise its financial systems but also step up productive and infrastructural integration.…
Ghana is estimated to have produced about 812 thousand tonnes of cocoa beans in 2018/2019.…