Intra-African Trade Grows as the AfCFTA Deepens

Intra-African trade continues to grow as more member states ratify and operationalise the African Continental Free Trade Area. The AfCFTA, which entered into force in 2019 and under which trading began in 2021, creates the largest free trade area in the world by number of participating countries, with a market of well over a billion people.

The goal is ambitious and specific. The Second Ten Year Implementation Plan targets lifting intra-African trade from a historic level of around 14 percent of total African trade toward at least 30 percent by 2033. Trade between African countries tends to be more diversified and more industrial than Africa's trade with the rest of the world, so growing it supports manufacturing, value addition and decent jobs.

Progress is being driven by the steady removal of tariffs on the vast majority of goods, work to tackle non tariff barriers, and the harmonisation of standards and customs procedures. New digital systems for customs and for settling payments in local currencies are making it easier and cheaper for businesses, especially smaller ones, to sell across borders.

Challenges remain. Integration is uneven across regions, infrastructure gaps still raise the cost of moving goods, and non tariff barriers can be slow to dismantle. Even so, the direction of travel is clear, and each ratification and each operational corridor brings the continent closer to the integration Moonshot.