AFCFTA EXPECTS BOOST TRADE, INDUSTRIALISATION FOR 2023

MBABANE – Eswatini is projecting an increase in trade and foreign investments this year and the AfCFTA could play an imperative role.

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Acting Executive Secretary, Antonio Pedro, said the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) should be expedited as the free trade zone to boost intra-African trade and accelerate industrialisation.“While the AfCFTA’s promise is high, that promise can be realised only if the Agreement is implemented efficiently,” Pedro said, admitting that implementing the AfCFTA Agreement and supporting African economies, particularly least developed countries (LDCs), was no small task. Pedro said the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs was timely for Africa whose economies have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Action

The regional consultation on LDC5 for LDCs is taking stock of trade elements of the Doha Programme of Action for the LDCs for the decade 2022-2031 (DPOA). It was organised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations Office of the High Representative for LDCs (UN OHRLLS), in cooperation with the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF). The AfCFTA holds great promise to help LDCs recover and accelerate growth. ECA’s latest empirical assessment of the AfCFTA reform reveals that its successful implementation will positively impact Africa’s GDP, trade and welfare. With the AfCFTA Agreement in place, intra-African trade could be 34 per cent higher in 2045 than without the AfCFTA in the same year. Hence, the effective implementation of the AfCFTA agreement will help Africa industrialise and diversify away from energy and mining, said Pedro.

Facilitated

The ECA has facilitated deepening Africa’s participation in the battery and electric vehicle value chains through current investment projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia. In addition, the ECA’s work on the transboundary agro-industry park and special economic zone involving Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Zambia was promising and it would equip the two land-locked and LDCs to become bread baskets for Southern Africa and possibly Africa. Pedro said the successful implementation of the AfCFTA agreement would help build Africa’s resilience and potentially reduce its current trade dependence on external partners. He said was critical in light of the vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. Africa needs to mitigate the potential negative impacts of future external shocks.

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