Paper short abstract:

The purpose of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement(ACFTA)is to boost trade within the Continent. However An analysis of IntraAfrican trade shows that certain factors in Africa have stalled the goal.This paper reviews policy options that could ensure a successful implementation of ACFTA

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) is to facilitate trade within the Continental economic space through enhanced trade opportunities to expand productive capacity. Such expansion of productive capacity can have important implications for the development of markets and market processes, resulting in robust, sustainable African development.

However, An analysis of Intra-African trade shows that certain external factors like EPA and WTO rules in Africa have intensified competition. What used to be local and regional markets are now part of a relatively open global market with the effect that African consumers have become more exposed to imported products, including from the emerging economies in the South, that are cheaper alternatives to continentally produced goods with intra-African exports remaining below 13% in 2016.The implications of this trend for intra-African trade and how African countries can rebuild their productive capacities and attain competitiveness should be part of the new continental agenda.

Again, what Africa produces and exports matters for intra-African trade. Export similarity gradually increased from 1995 from (11.3%)

to 2016 (12.3%), although it declined in 2010(11.5%).

However, most industrial goods exchanging in Africa are processed agricultural commodities and other agro-based industrial products. This suggests that the right policy mix will greatly improve the prospects for the expansion of intra-African trade.This paper proposes to undertake a review of policy options and measures that could ensure a successful implementation of ACFTA and enhance the bargaining power of African countries in international trade.