An overview of the obstacles to the African economic integration process in view of the African continental free trade area

Abstract

ABSTRACT African governments signed the largest trade agreement, the Continental Free Trade Agreement in 2018 in order to boost intra-trade thereby improving economic welfare of African citizens. This paper provides an overview of the obstacles to the African economic integration process experienced in the past and the possible solutions. The paper discussed the theoretical postulations and empirically reviewed some African experiences. Some theoretical aspects included not only the traditional international trade theories but also other non-orthodox theories such as organizational theories which include intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism and neorealism. Empirically, Africa’s economic integration challenges range from economic such as polarization of benefits towards larger economies at the expense of smaller economies, an unclear model of distributing welfare gains (or losses), traditional trade models which do not stimulate intra-African trade, several non-tariff and institutional barriers among other factors. Other challenges include lack of political will to implement signed trade contracts and political instability in some economic regions which results in small and fragmented markets. The paper also discussed the legal challenges such as lack of standardization on products and procedures which result in subjectivity in interpretation of trade instruments. The paper made recommendations to each identified challenge in order to make the CFTA more effective.