The AfCFTA and the Promise of Intra-Continental Trade in Africa

Abstract

This article takes stock of the state of intra-continental trade in Africa by reviewing trends in the continent’s five sub-regional trading blocs in terms of their strengths and shortcomings, in order to assess the continent’s trade efficiency on an intra-regional level ahead of the rollout of a continent-wide free trade area. Thereafter, the article assesses trade indicators seen over the past decade to illustrate the amount of goods traded to prognosticate the future of intra-continental trade on the continent in the wake of discussing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Implications for youth are cast in the wider imperatives of the continent’s developmental agenda and post-Covid-19 economic recovery.