-
-
-
Loading
Loading
The African Free Continental Trade Agreement (AfCTA)
is set to come into effect on January, 2021. Trading was initially set for 1st
July 2020 but was later extended due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The key objective
of AfCTA is to create a continental common market for goods and services that promotes
industrial development, and facilitates free movement of people and capital.
In March 2018, the Agreement establishing the
AfCTA was signed in Kigali, Rwanda. So far, 54 member states (including Kenya)
have signed, and 30 countries have submitted their instruments of ratification
with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. The implementation of the
agreement was delayed by Nigeria, which delayed its assent to the agreement. The
projected Pan-African Free Trade Zone would have flopped had Nigeria failed to
come onboard.
According to the African Union (AU), intra-African
trade is expected to go up by at least 52.3 percent under the AfCTA, in
comparison to the current situation. This agreement has the potential to bring
together 1.3 billion people and generate a GDP of USD 2.5trillion across all
the 54 member states. The AfCTA will also enhance competitiveness at both the
industry and expertise level through the exploitation of opportunities for
scale production.
“Increase in trade is the surest way to deepen
regional integration in Africa. “We are now the world’s largest free trade area
since the formation of the World Trade Organization, and we must make it
count”, said the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, during a handing over ceremony
held in Accra this year. This is where the AfCTA Secretariat was handed over to
the African Union.